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MIRABEAU 






AND 



THE FRENCH CONSTITUTION 



in the Years 1789 and 1790, 



BY 



FRED MORROW FLING, 

o*- 

PORTLAND, ME., U. S. A. 



DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR. 



2 

UQ 8' 1891 



Ithaca, N. Y.: 

PRESS OF THE JOURNAL JOB PRINTING HOUSE. 

1801. 



* 9 : 



TO THE MEMORY 

OF 
MY FATHER. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

I. Bibliography 7 

II. Introduction 9 

III. Destruction of the Old Government. 

A. Examination of Credentials 12 

B. National Assembl}- 17 

C. Fourth of August Decrees 23 

IV. Formation of a New Government. 

A. The Rights of Man 33 

B. The New Constitution 39 

1. Royal Power. 

a. Veto 41 

b. Inviolability and Heredity . . 45 

c. Ministerial Responsibility 48 

d. Sanction and Promulgation of Laws ... 51 

2. Legislative Power 53 

a. Number of Chambers and Permanence ... 54 

b. Imposts 56 

c. Judgment of Elections 58 

d. Right of Declaring War and Making Peace . 59 

V. Conclusion 66 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



I. . General Histories. 

Leopold Von Ranke : Ursprung und Beginn der Revolutionskriege, 
1791, und 92. Leipzig 1875. II Capitel, "Ansicht der franzosischen 
Revolution:" also the first of the Addenda ; "Zur Kritik des Moniteur 
mit besonderer Beziehung auf den 4ten August, 1789." 

H. Taine : Les origines de la France contemporaine. La revolution, 
1878. 

H. Morse Stephens : A History of the French Revolution, I vol. N. Y., 
1886. 

Martin: Histoire de France, vol. XVI, i860. 

Heinrich von SybeIv : Geschichte der Revolutionszeit von 1789 bis 1800, 
Fiinf Bande, Vierte Auflage (Neue Ausgabe). Frankfurt a. M. 1882. 

Ludwig Hausser : Geschichte der franszosischen Revolution, 1 789-1 799. 
Herausgegeben von Wilhelm Oncken, Berlin, 1867. 

II. Special Histories. 

Rabaud : Precis historique de la revolution francaise, Assemblee con 
stituante. Par J. P. Rabaud, 18 19. 

Reynald : Mirabeau et la constituante, 1872. 

Aulard, F. A : Les orateurs de l'Assemblee constituante, Paris, 1882. 
Joseph Droz : Histoire du regne de Louis XVI. 3 vols. Paris, 1839. 
Ch. Lacretel^E : Histoire de l'Assemblee constituante. 2 vols. Paris, 1821 
P. J. B. Buchhz: Histoire de l'Assemblee constituante. 5 vols. Paris, 1846. 
PivAN : Un collaborateur de Mirabeau. Paris, 1874. 

III. Original Sources. 

Etienne Mejan : Collection complete des travaux de M. Mirabeau, 1'aine 
a. l'assemblee Nationale, 5 vols in 3, Paris 1791. In the preface to his 
work, referring to these speeches, Stern says : Mehr als einmal hatte er 
es zu bedauern, dass es bis jetzt keine auch nur den massigsten Ansprii- 
chen geniigende Sammlung der Schriften Mirabeau's giebt, dass nicht 
einmal seine Reden in einer kritischen Ausgabe vorliegen. " 

Lucas-Montigny : Memoires biographiques, litteraires et politiques de 
Mirabeau, ecrits par luimeme, par son pere, son oncle et sonfils adoptif : 
8 vols. Paris 1841. The work in the Assembly, commencing with the 
sixth volume, is based on Mejan and of use only when it furnishes new 
material. 



Racourt : Correspondance entre le comte de Mirabeau et le comte de la 
Marck, pendant les annees 1789, 1790 et 1791. Recueillie, mise en ordre 
et publiee par M. Ad. De Bacourt. Paris 1851, 3 vols. Of leading im- 
portance for my work, was the introduction of 276 pages, consisting 
largely of the personal recollections of le comte de la Marck. 

Lettres du Comte de Mirabeau, a un de ses amis en Allemagne. 
Ecrites durant les annees 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789 et 1790. The collection 
is dated 1 792. Neither the name of the publisher nor the place of publi- 
cation was given, but the name has since then transpired— Major Mau- 
villon. These letters are a mine of information, and as at the time of 
the publication of Lucas-Montigny's work, they seem to have been little 
known, he made extensive use of the material contained in them. 

Goverxeur Morris : The Diary and Letters of Governeur Morris. Edited 

by Anne Cary Morris. 2 vols New York, 1888. 
Le comte de Mirabeau devoile, se distribue a. la porte des Etats Generaux, 

Octobre, 17S9. (Pamphlet in the White Library, Cornell University.) 

Arthur Young : Travels in France, 18S9. 

Archives parlementairks de 1787 a i860. Recueil complet des debats 
legislatifs et politiques des chambres francaises, irnprimes sous la 
direction de Mavidal, Laurent, Clavel, Premiere Serie (1789 a 1799). 
Paris Librarie administrative de Paul Duport, 1867. 

Discours ET replioue du comte de Mirabeau a. l'assemblee Nationale, 
dans les seances des 20 et 22 Mai sur cette question : a qui la Nation 
doit-elle deliguer le droit de la paix et de la guerre. Avec une lettre 
d'envoi a Messieurs les admin istrateurs des departemens. A Paris de 
1' Impremerie de Lejay fils. Dated, Paris, ce premier Juin 1790. 
(Pamphlet in the White Library). 

Le Courrier de Provence commencee le 2 Mar. 1789. A Paris 1789. 

La constitution francaise, Presentee au Roi par l'Assemblee Nationale, 
le 3 Septembre 1791, a Paris, De l'Imprimerie de Baudouin, Imprimeur 
de l'Assemblee Nationale, rue Saint-Honori No. 426, 1791. 

Declaration des Droits de l'Homme et du citoyeu, D'une imprimerie 
patriotique, 1790. 

LE Moniteur Universel, Novembre, Decembre, 1789, Janvier a Juin, 
1790. I have used the Moniteur only for the speech of May 20th, 1790. 

Des lettres de cachet et des prisons d'etat, Ouvrage posthume, com- 
pose en 1778, a Hambourg, 1782. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In April 1789, France was awaiting with hope and anxiety 
the approaching assembly of the estates of the realm. In the 
same month, Gouverneur Morris, then a resident of Paris, re- 
viewing in his diary the political situation, closed with these 
words: "It will depend much on the chapter of accidents who 
will govern the states general or whether they will be at all 
governable. Gods ! what a theatre this is for a first rate char- 
acter. n Two years from that time, Mirabeau had finished his 
remarkable career : commenting upon his death, Morris wrote 
as follows : "I have seen this man in the short space of two 
years, hissed, honored, hated and mourned. Enthusiasm has 
just now presented him gigantic ; time and reflection will 
shrink that stature. " Although this prediction has not been 
realized — for viewed through the vista of a hundred years, 
Mirabeau still towers above his contemporaries, a giant among 
pigmies 1 — yet the writer saw clearly and expressed in senten- 
tious language, two most important facts, the greatness of the 
opportunity and the meteor-like career of the man who sought 
to avail himself of it. 

Mirabeau had literally been trained for his great role. 
From early manhood, he had felt the heavy hand of the gov- 
ernment under which he lived, 2 and the weary months of con- 
finement in French dungeons implanted within him a bitter 

J Diese Erweiterung unserer Kenntnis allein wiirde es rechtfertigen, bei 
der hundertjahrigen Wiederkehr der grossen Erin nerungst age des damonischen 
Mannes nicht zu vergessen den die deutsche Historiographie von Niebuhr und 
Dahlmann bis zu Hausser und Sybel mit seltener Ubereinstimmung hoch iiber 
den Schwann seiner Kainpf genossen erheben hat." Stern, Das Leben Mira- 
beaus. (1889) Vorwort. 

2 At the time of his confinement upon the island of Rhe, he was twenty 
years old, and in the following ten years, he was five times imprisoned, at 
Manosque, If, Joux, Dijon and Vincennes. 



IO 

hatred of despotism and a passionate love of constitutional 
liberty. These sentiments were the more extraordinary as the 
former was directed against institutions, not against persons, 1 
while the latter, largely under the control of reason, did not 
degenerate into philosophical theories and dreams impossible 
of realization ; the natural fairness of his mind and his practic- 
al training preserved him from such errors. 2 

Led, at an early age, to think deeply upon constitutional 
questions, the experiences of an eventful life furnished him with 
an abundance of material on which to exercise his mind and 
pen. 3 The governments of Holland, England and Prussia were 
examined in turn, and his great work, u De la Monarchic 
Prussienue sous Frederic le Grand " (1788) was the fruit of his 
constitutional studies. 4 About to undertake a similar work up- 
on the English government, he was called to employ his great 
talents and extensive knowledge in framing a constitution for 
his own country. This opportunity he had long desired, and 
was firmly resolved that no fault of his own should deprive him 
of it. 5 

But on the very threshold of public life, he encountered 
the spectre that was to confront him at every turn during his 
brief career — the immorality of his youth. Rejected by the 
nobility of Provence, 6 he was elected as a representative of the 

I( ' Aucune atiimosite particuliere ne m' excite ; mon ouvrage n'est point 
uue satyre malign e, fruit de l'aigreur et du resentiment" — Des lettres de cachet 
et des prisons d'etat, p. XI. 

2< 'Et a dire vrai, je me tnefie un politique de toute surete qui n'est pas 
d'arethmitique". To Mauvillon, Dec. 3, 1789. 

^Between 1774 and 1789, Mirabeau published some twenty works, treating 
questions of politics, administration and finance. 

4 " Car je regarde la Monarchic Prussienne comme un imperissable monu- 
ment, que nous devons soigner et perfectionner toute notre vie." To Mauvillon, 
31 Jan. 1799. 

5<< Mon partie est irrevocablement pris de ne rien imprimer surles questions 
qui nous divissent, et en general sur l'assemblee nationale, qui je ne sois sur 
d'en etre ou de n'en etre pas ; parceque je ne veux pas me donner une seule 
chance par ma faute pour en etre exclus." To Mauvillon, Nov. 8, 1788. 

5 "Ilm' a aussi repete plusieurs fois que si en Provence, l'ordre de la 
noblesse ne l'avait pas repousse il se serait trouve place naturellement dans 
une tout autre direction." De la Marck I, 109. 



II 

third estate by both Aix 1 and Marseilles. At war with the 
nobility, 2 an enemy to privilege and arbitrary power, Mirabean 
was not at this time, nor did he ever become a republican in 
the truest sense of the word. 3 He was then and he always re- 
mained a firm advocate of the monarchial form of government; 4 
not of the form then existing in France, where the king's 
word was law, but of a monarchy based upon justice and civil 
liberty, 5 and he looked forward to the establishment of such a 
regime as to " the day when talent also shall be a power." 

Thus reared in the hard school of experience, equipped 
with the vast amount of practical and theoretical knowledge 
demanded by his task, 6 with definite views upon the correct 
course to be pursued in the reform of the government, 7 and 

J Mirabeau chose to represent Aix : his reasons for doing so are given in full 
in his second letter to the electors of Marseilles, found in Memoires de Mira- 
beau V, 419. 

2 " J'ai ete, je suis, je serai jusqu' au tombeau, l'homme'de la liberte publique, 
l'homme de la constitution ; malheur aux ordres privilegies, si c' est la. plutot 
rhomme du peuple que celui des nobles ; car les privileges finiront mais le 
peuple est eternel." Mejan I, 52. 

3" A travers toutes les declarations democratiques de Mirabeau, l'observateur 
peut bien voir qu' au fond de sa pensee il etait plus monarchique que les minis- 
tres nieme des roi." De la Marck I. 103. "Par son caractere et je puis meme 
dire par ses principes, il etait aristocrate : mais son humeur et son eloquence 
l'entrainaient dans le parti populaire." Ibid I, 109. 

4 " Mirabeau a toujours ete un partisan sincere de la royaute. II ne voulait 
pas seulement la maintenir, il la voulait forte et puissante pour qu'elle put 
facilement supporter les orages de la liberte. Tel il a ete a la fin de sa carriere, 
tel il s' est montre des les premiers jours." Raynald 145. 

5 In May 1789, in a conversation with Malouet, Mirabeau said : " Je ne suis 
point homme a. me rendre lachement au despotisme. Je veux une constitution 
libre, mais monarchique. Je ne veux point ebranler la monarchic" De la 
Marck I, 311. 

6 "Iln' ignorait rien de ce qui interessait ses contemporains et ce qu' il 
avait appris, il se 1' assimilait assez vite pour paraitre l'avoir su de naissance." 
Aulard, 71. "Disons j'abord que nul homme ne fut jamais mieux prepare que 
lui a la carriere oratoire. Ces conditions de savoir uuiversel reclamees par les 
anciens, il les remplissait mieux que personne en 1789. Sa lecture etait pro- 
digieuse, grace aux longues annees qu'il avait passees en prison." Aulard, 70. 

7ln the spring of 1789, Mauvillon was at work upon a civil code that Mira- 
beau hoped to use as a basis for the legislative reforms. 



12 



capable of expressing these views in language at once perspicu- 
ous and attractive, Mirabeau appeared in the Assembly, con- 
scious of his superiority and ambitious of playing the leading 
role. His reception was far from favorable, for at his entrance 
he was "hissed although not loudly." 1 Distrust due to the 
irregularities of his youth, met him upon all sides ; 2 he charmed 
his colleagues by his eloquence, he led them against their will, 
but he could not win their confidence. 3 In bitterness of spirit 
he repeatedly exclaimed, "Ah! how the immorality of my 
youth injures the public cause!" Belonging to no party, he 
pursued his solitary way, advocated his own ideas and succeed- 
ed in impressing much of his personality upon the legislation 
from 1 789-1 790 ; what part he took in the constitutional de- 
bates of these two years, what views he advocated, it is the 
province of the following pages to discover. 



III. DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD GOVERNMENT. 

A. EXAMINATION OF CREDENTIALS. 

During the autumn of 1788 and the following spring, 
France was a hotbed of political discussion. 4 Of the many 
questions treated in the pamphlets, that fell as thick as autumn 

J Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris I, 75. 

2 His relations with de la Marck, Malouet, Necker, Moutmorin and the 
Queen, all testify to this distrust. Morris — who was not acquainted with 
Mirabeau — had the entree of the first salons of Paris, and he was simply voic- 
ing the sentiment of aristocratic circles when, after Mirabeau's death, he 
characterized him as "beyond all controversy, one of the most unprincipled 
scoundrels, that ever lived." Morris I, 502. 

3 " On etait en garde contre tout ce qu'il proposait. Son avis danssa bouche 
avait de la defaveur ; cependant on admirait son talent." Bailly Memoires I, 
303. Quoted by Hausser. "Bref, l'assemblee national doit se defies de 
rinfluence dangereuse qu'il n'exerce que tropsurelle." Mirabeau devoile, p. 14. 

4 "La France entiere s'agitait. II n'y avait plus qui un sujet de conversa- 
tion, les afnaires publiques ; on en parlait avec feu j usque dans les plus petites 
villes, jusque dans les villages." Droz. 136. 

Young's "Travels in France" fully justify Droz's generalization, but 
Young brings out two very important points to which Droz does not refer, 
namely : the deep ignorance of the people as to the real state of affairs and the 
short-sightedness of the government in not supplying them with information. 



13 

leaves, 1 the two most important were those touching the double 
representation for the commons and the form of voting in the 
National Assembly. The increase of representation for the 
third estate and the vote by head instead of by order, were ad- 
vocated by the most enlightened men of the nation ; they 
looked upon these measures as the indespensible foundation of 
all reforms. 2 The innovations were naturally opposed by the 
nobility and clergy who saw in such concessions, the prelude to 
their own destruction. The first question was definitely settled 
by decree of council in December, 1788, and this double repre- 
sentation for the commons formed the basis of the spring 
elections ; the second point was still undecided when the 
estates met in May. 

The government had been strongly urged by clear headed 
men like Malouet and the bishops of Bordeaux and Langres to 
take the initiative in the matter, but declined to do so. 3 In the 
opening session of the 5th of May, the secretary of state, 
Barentin, referred to the matter very briefly and very vaguely, 
practically leaving it as a bone of contention to be fought over 
by the estates. 4 The contest began at once. The nobility 

lC 'Quelqu'un eu acheta 2500 dans les derniers mois de 1788 ; et sa collec- 
tions etait loin d'etre complete." Droz II, 136. 

"The business going r orward at present in the pamphlet shops of Paris is 
incredible. I went to the Palais Royal to see what new things were published 
and to procure a catalogue of all. Every hour produces something new. 
Thirteen came out to-day, sixteen yesterday and ninety-two last week." 
Young, June 9, 1789. 

2 "Leshommes les plus eclaires, tels que Mounier, Malouet, Lally Tollendal, 
desiraient la double representation et le vote par tete. Si le gouvernement 
vouloit supprimer les abus, s'il vouloit termines ses longs debats avec la magis- 
trature, en donnant une constitution a la France, quireellement n'en avait pas, 
les deux conditions reclamees etaient indispensables." Droz, II, 108. 

3" Necker se retranchait dans ses principes ; les etats generaux doivent 
jouir d'une entiere liberte ; le roi la generait en prenant Pinitiative ; les 
fonctions du ministre se bornent a conduire les representans de la nation jusqu' 
a la porte du sanctuaire ; son devoir est de se retirer ensuite pour les laisser 
deliberer." Droz II, 161. 

4 "Sa Majeste, Messieurs, n'a point change la forme des anciennes deliber- 
ations ; et quoi que celle par-tetes en ne produisant qu'un seul resultat, 
paroisse avoir l'avantage de faire mieux connoitre le desir general, le roi a 
voulu que cette nouvelle forme ne puisse s' operer que du consentement libre 
des etats generaux, et avec 1' approbation de Sa Majeste." Arch. pari. VIII, 3. 



H 

hastened to organize as a distinct body ; the clergy debated 
and hesitated, while the commons remained inactive, not fully 
comprehending the situation. At once the question. " Shall 
the estates vote by order or by head?" yielded precedence to 
another, " Shall all credentials be examined in a common 
assembly?" To this question the commons replied most em- 
phatically in the affirmative ; the nobility, on the contrary, 
believing that to yield upon this point would be equivalent to 
a surrender upon the question of voting by head, 1 replied as 
emphatically in the negative. Discussions and conferences in- 
creased party feeling, but failed to solve the problem. On the 
17th of June, the commons cut the gordian knot by declaring 
themselves " National Assembly, n and the royal letter of the 
27th of the same month, instructing the nobility and clergy to 
unite themselves to the commons, disposed of the question for- 
ever and with it of the question of voting by head. 

The policy of masterly inactivity, pursued by the third 
estate up to the decisive 10th of June, was very largely the re- 
sult of Mirabeau's energetic opposition to any measures based 
upon the recognition of the deputies as an organized body. In 
a letter to Mauvillon, written in May, he refers to it in the fol- 
lowing words : u The commons have up to the present persisted 
in a system of immobility, that by the whole power of the force 
of inertia, should render them victorious over everything and 
everybody, if they take care not to deviate from it." 

The idea did not, however, originate with him. On the 
6th of May, Malouet proposed that a deputation be sent to the 
privileged orders to invite them to present themselves at once 
in the place of general assembly for the purpose of verifying 
their credentials. 2 It was Mounier who responded to him, 
"I think such a step would compromise the interests of the 
commons ; that there is no danger at all in temporizing. M3 But 

1,1 Mais leur arriefe pensee est que de deferer sur cela au bon sens et aux 
principes, c'est prejuger la question de deliberer et d'opiner par tete, qu'ils ne 
veulent pas perdre sans avoir tout risque pour la gagner." To Mauvillon " de 
la mi Mai on environ 17S9." 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 28. 

3Arch. pari. VIII, 28. 



J 5 

it was Mirabeau who adopted this policy and who became its 
most energetic and consistent advocate. When, on the follow- 
ing day, Malouet renewed his motion, Mirabeau combatted it 
on the ground that, u The deputies of the commons can ap- 
point no deputations so long as their powers are not verified ; it 
is necessary to profit by the advantages of a complete inactivity 
under such circumstances." 1 

Thus, until the 14th of May, the commons remained in- 
active. On that day, Rabaud de Saint-Etienne proposed that 
commissioners be appointed to confer with commissioners from 
the other two orders. This called forth a debate that lasted 
until the 18th ; on the last day Mirabeau spoke. 2 Emphasiz- 
ing the position maintained by the commons up to that time, 
he exclaimed, "We have never ceased to agree that we are 
not constituted." 3 Standing upon this ground, he made the 
following proposition : "Send to the clergy, gentlemen, but do 
not send to the nobility, for the nobility commands and the 
clergy negotiates. 4 Authorize who you will to confer with the 
clergy, provided that your envoys may not propose the slightest 
compromise, since upon the fundamental point of verification 
of powers in the National Assembly, you may not yield. " 5 These 
ideas, however, found little favor ; the majority supported the 

1 Arch pari. VIII, 30. 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 41. 

3" Nous n'avons pas cesse de convenir que nous n'etions pas constitues, 
devons nous permettre des formules qui dient toutes les apparences d'un acte 
de jurisdiction ? Avons nous eu tort de pretendre que la puissance doit preceder 
Paction? Si cela etait vrai hier, cela ne Test il plus aujourd'hui? * * * * 
Tout peut se defendre, M. M., excepte l'inconsequence," Arch. pari. VIII, 42. 

4 "La motion de M. Rabaud de Saint-Etienne dissimule entierement la 
conduite arrogante de la noblesse ; elle donne en quelque sorte l'attitude de la 
clientelle supplicante aux communes * * * Cette motion enfin traite avec 
la rneme deference ceux qui, se rendant juges dans leur propre cause n'ont pas 
meme daigne condescendre a la discuter, et ceux qui plus habiles ou plus 
delicats couvrent du moins de quelque procede leur marche irreguliere et 
chancellante." Arch. pari. VIII, 42. s^ 

5" Dans notre sein meme on s'efforce de former un parti pour diviser les 
etats generaux en trois chambres * * Toute deviation du principe, toute appar- 
ance de composition encouragera le parti, et entrainera ceux d'entre nous 
qu'on est parvenu a ebranler." Arch. pari. VIII, 43. 



i6 

motion of Rabaud de Saint-Etienne and commissioners were 
appointed. 

But the negotiations were fruitless and on the 27th of May, 
Mirabeau renewed his proposal to appeal to the clergy. "We 
fear that a longer perseverance in our immobility will com- 
promise the national rights * * * The clergy persevere in 
the role of conciliator that they have chosen. Let us address 
ourselves to them, but in a manner that will not leave the 
slightest pretext for evasion. I propose * * a deputation to the 
clergv * * that shall adjure the ministers of the God of peace to 
range themselves on the side of reason, of justice and of truth 
and to unite, themselves in the common hall." 1 This time 
Mirabeau' s motion aroused the most general enthusiasm ; it 
was adopted by acclamation and executed at once. Yet before 
the clergy had opportunity to respond to the exhortation, the 
royal authority intervened and ordered that the conferences be 
renewed. 2 

The situation was a critical one, and no man realized it 
more fully than Mirabeau ; to yield unconditionally or to re- 
fuse absolutely were courses of equal peril ; the first would end 
in a decree of council and retention of the old form of deliber- 
ation, the second bordered upon revolution. It was necessary 
to choose a middle course. 3 All this he set forth clearly in a 
speech delivered on the 29th of May 4 and immediately proposed 
that the conferences be renewed, but that previous to this step, 
an address be sent to the king respectfully presenting the views 
of the commons and declaring in unmistakable language 

x Arch. pari. VIII, 50. 

2 In his speech of the 29th, referring to the royal letter, Mirabeau said : 
"Qu' est ce done que tout ceci ? un effort de courage, de patience et de bonte de 
la part du Roi, mais, en meme temps, un piege dresse par la main de ceux qui 
lui ont rendu un compte inexact de la situation des esprits et des choses, un 
piege en tous sens, un piege ourdi de la main des Druids ; Piege si Ton defere 
au desir du Roi, piege si l'on s'y refuse." Arch. pari. VIII, 58. Not given by 
Mejan. 

3lt was desirable to throw all responsibility for disagreement on the 
shoulders of the nobility : " Elle mit ainsi les mauvais procedes de son cote ; 
et les communes n'eurrent autre chose a faire qu'a rejeter sur la noblesse tous 
les inconveniens du refus." Rabaud, 122. 

^Arch. pari. VIII. 58. 



*7 

44 that the verification of powers can be definitely made and 
decreed only in the National Assembly. n Again, as on the 
18th, he had emphasized the facts that the commons were not 
organized and that the commissioners conld be neither ''judges 
nor arbitrators." His idea of an address was accepted, but the 
substance of the one adopted was such that it largely deprived 
the measure of its force ; his views in regard to the commis- 
sioners were rejected a second time. 

The conferences were renewed, but to no purpose. On the 
ioth of June, Mirabeau mounted the rostrum to say his last 
word on the topic that had absorbed the attention of the com- 
mons for more than a month. 1 " The commons cannot, without 
exposing themselves to the greatest dangers, delay longer to 
take a decisive part, and I am informed that a member of the 
deputation of Paris has a motion to make of the. greatest im- 
portance. n It was Sieves, who proposed that a final summons 
be sent to the privileged orders, exhorting them to present 
themselves in the general assembly hall for the purpose of 
verifying the powers in common. The motion was almost 
unanimously adopted. The clergy and nobility were summon- 
ed ; the call of bailliages began the evening of the 12 th of June, 
was followed by the examination of credentials, and on the 
evening of the 14th the work was finished. 

B. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 

" Under what name shall the Assembly be constituted?" 2 
was the new question that now presented itself, and one of far 
reaching significance. 3 The die was not yet cast ; there was 

^rch. pari. VIII, 84. 

2 "This question was raised on June 15 in the arguments of Mounier and 
Malouet, who were both terrified by the boldness of the proposed measures ; 
but the deputies after being excited by the eloquence of Barnave and Mirabeau, 
declared themselves by an immense majority, to be the National Assembly." 
Stephens, I, 61. 

Did Mirabeau " excite " the commons to declare themselves the National 
Assembly? Exactly the opposite. If Stephens understood Mirabeau's position, 
he has failed to make it clear. 

sThe question of the National Assembly had been partially discussed in 
May. On the same day when Rabaud de Saint-Etienne made his motion to 
summon the privileged orders, Chapelier presented a project containing this 



i8 

nothing of haste in the step already taken, but would the next 
be as deliberate? The answer of the commons to the above 
question was of the greatest importance, for a turning point in 
the history of the Assembly had been reached and this answer 
would determine whether the future development of affairs was 
to be slow and regular, or rapid and violent. Mirabeau saw 
this clearly ; he felt that the revolution had gone far enough. 1 
He recognized the necessity of organizing for the purpose of 
arriving at u an order of things regular and durable," yet this 
step should be taken only with extreme caution. The com- 
mons were the " representatives of the French people," not of 
the nation; for France was a nation of classes, of which the 
people constituted but one, although the most numerous. Organ- 
ized under this title, the commons could expect the approval 
of the king and claim the right to legislate for the most num- 

sentence : "Qu'un depute n'est plus, apris l'ouverture des etats generaux, le 
deputi d'un ordre ou d'un province, mais qu'ils sont les representants de la 
Nation." Arch. pari. VIII, 36. 

In his speech of May 18, Mirabeau said, referring to this statement : "Si 
nous sommes persuades, Messieurs, autant que nous devons l'etre, qu'une 
demarche aussi profondement decisive que celle de nous declarer assemblee 
nationale, et de prononcer defaut contre les autres ordres, ne sauroit jamais 
etre trop murie, trop mesuree, trop imposante, et meme qu'elle necessite 
d'autres actes sans lesquels nous pourrions obtenir pour tout acces, une dis- 
solution qui livreroit la France aux plus terribles desordres, nous devons infini- 
metit redouter de nous trouver contraints en quel que sorte par notre declara- 
tion, meme a, faire avec precipitation ce qui ne peut jamais etre soumis a trop 
de deliberations." iVrch. pari. VIII, 42. He took the same position in June. 

lU Wenn irgend einer hatte er (Mirabeau) die Kraft gehabt, auzutreiben 
und fortzureissen, aber auch er zauderte, hielt die Genossen von alien Schritten 
zuriick, weil er von der Haltlosigkeit und der Unerfahrenheit der Meisten den 
Ruin des Staates befiirchtete. " Sybel I, 49. 

''II est certain que la nation n'est pas mure. L/excessive imperetie, 
l'epouvantable desorde du gouvernement ont mis en serre-chaude la revolution; 
elle a devance notre aptitude et notre instruction. Je me conduis en conse- 
quence." To Mauvillon 16 June, 1789. 

"Je ne suis point homme a me rendre lachement au despotisme. Je veux 
point ebranler la monarchic ; et si l'on ne se met de bonne heure en mesure, 
j'apercois dans notre Assemblee de si mauvaises tetes, tout d'inexperieuce, d'ex- 
altation, une resistance, une aigreur si inconsiderees dans les deux premiers 
ordres, que je crains autant que vous les plus horribles commotions." Mira- 
beau to Malouet. Quoted by de la Mark, I, 312. 



*9 

erous class of the nation, while this much despised name of 
"people," would, through their adoption of it, be given the im- 
portance that belonged to it. Such was Mirabeau's plan ; it 
always remained a plan. 

The question of organization was broached by Sieyes on 
the 15th of June, w T ith the proposal that the commons assume 
the title "assembly of the representatives known and verified 
of the French nation." This, he declared, "was the only title 
fitted to the actual state of affairs" and he supported it in a 
speech replete with the political philosophy for which he was 
already famous. 1 A lively discussion followed in which Mira- 
beau was Sieyes chief opponent. 2 "It is necessary to constitute 
ourselves," he cried, u we are all in accord upon that point, 
but how ? under what form ? under what denomination ? " In a 
masterly manner, he passed in review the titles that might 
suggest themselves, and rejected them all as unfit for a body 
that represented but one class in a nation where three 
existed. 3 He considered it of the utmost importance that 
the king should approve their organization an'd this fact 
should ever be kept in view in choosing a title. 4 * "Further, 
this title of 'representatives known and verified' is it very in- 
telligible? Will it strike your constituents who know only the 
states general ? Are the reticences that it is destined to cover 
fitting to your dignity? * * * Is it not evidently a first 
determination, which has consequences that ought to be de- 

I(i De plus, puisqu'il n' appartient qu'aux representants verifies de con- 
courir a former le voeu national, et que tous les representants verifies sont 
dans cette assemblee, il est encore indispensable de conclure qu'il lui apparti- 
ent, et qu'il n'apportient qu'a elle, d'interpreter et de representer la volonte 
general e de la nation." Arch. pari. VIII, 109. 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 109. 

3 " De quel droit sortiriez-vous aujourd'hui des limites de votre titre? 
N'etes-vous point appelles en Etats? Le legislateur provisoire n'a-t-il pas sup- 
pose trois ordres, quoiqu'il les ait convoques en une seule Assemblee." Arch, 
pari. VIII, in. 

4 "Je demanderai toujours ; aurez-vous la sanction du roi ? Et pouvez-vous 
vous en passer ? L'autorite du monarque peut-elle sommeiller une instant ? Ne 
faut il pas qu'el^oncure a votre decret, ne fut-ce que pour en etre lie ? Arch, 
pari. VIII, no. 



20 

veloped ; ought one to launch you into this career without 
showing you the end to which one proposes to conduct you? 
* * • * The title of deputies known and verified of the 
French nation is fitting neither to your dignity nor to the con- 
tinuity of your labors, since the union that you hope for and 
wish at all times to facilitate would force you to change it. 
Do not take a title that may affright. Seek one that cannot be 
contested with you, that more pleasing and not less imposing 
in its plentitude, fitted to all times, would be susceptible of all 
the developments that may be permitted you by events — such 
is, according to my mind, the following formula, 'Representa- 
tives of the French people.' 1 But," he continued, "it is not 
sufficient to constitute our Assembly, to give it a title, the only 
one fitting to it, as long as the other two orders do not unite 
themselves to us as states-general. It is necessary to establish 
our principles. It is necessary to show: that it is not to us but 
to the three orders that one should attribute the non-reunion of 
the three estates ; why and how we are about to enter into 
activity ; why and how we maintain that the two orders may 
not take a position apart from us ; that they can have no veto. 
It is necessary to announce our intentions and our views ; it is 
necessary to assure by a step — equally wise, legal and moder- 
ate — the solidity of our measures, to maintain the resources of 
the government as long as they shall be employed to serve the 
public good and to present to the creditors of the state the 
hope of that security which they desire and which the national 
honor demands that we offer them : but always making it de- 
pendent upon the success of that national regeneration which 
is the grand and first object of our convocation and our wishes.' ' 
A series of resolutions with which he closed this speech, em- 
bodied these guarantees. 



Ik ' Vous y trouverez ma motion qui n'etait autre que celle ci : De nous de* 
clarer Representans du peuple Francais : c'est a. dire ce que nous sommes in- 
contestablement, ce que personne ne peut nous empecher d'etre, et ce mot a 
tiroir, ce mot vraiment magique, qui se pretoit a. tout, qui n'allarmait personne, 
reduisoit a des termes bien simples le grand proces : Bst-ce le peuple Francais 
ou les cent mille individus, qui se pretendent une caste a part, qui donneront 
des loix a la France?" To Mauvillon 16 June, 1789. 



21 

These were the utterances of a cool, calculating statesman, 1 
of a man who moved in the world of realities, who was con- 
versant with the laws of historical development and who recog- 
nized the necessity of counting with the existing. 2 He de- 
manded a "national regeneration, n but he drew the line sharp- 
ly between a revolution based upon philosopical theories and a 
reform that could be reckoned with mathematical exactness. 
But in the National Assembly philosopical ideas had won the 
ascendency and Mirabeau was already classed among the mod- 
erate men. 3 The title proposed by him was warmly combatted, 
the word "peuple" being the chief point of assault. 4 It said 
too little, if it designated the ignorant and poor, too much, if 
it was synonymous with the word nation. Many declared that 
the title applied only to the unenlightened of the third estate 
and was really a term of reproach. 



xii Mons de Mirabeau spoke without notes for near an hour, with a warmth, 
animation and eloquence that entitles him to the reputation of an undoubted 
orator. He opposed the words known and verified, in the proposition of Abbe 
Sieyes, with great force of reasoning." Young, June 15, 1789. 

" La parole de Sieyes est calme, rigoureuse, inflexible comme sa pamphlet ; 
celle de Mirabeau eclate en emotions contradictoires comme le cri d'une ame 
en lutte avec elle-meme." Martin XVI, 655. 

Martin was undoubtedly w T rong here ; the speech itself and the testimony 
of a hearer who was a competent judge, are both against him. See Stern II, 16. 

2 In conversation with de la Marck, Mirabeau said : *' Ancun homme seul 
ne sera capable de ramener les Francais au bon sens ; le temps seul peut 
retablir l'ordre dans les esprits ; avec eux il ne faut jamais ni presumer, ni 
desesperer. Aujourd'hui les Francais sont malades, tres-malades ; il faut les 
traiter avec precaution." De la Marck I, 209. 

3 " 1/ effervescence au reste est prodigieuse, et Ton est irrite de ce que je 
suis toujours aux partis moderes. Mais je suis si convaincuqu'il y a un differ- 
ence enorme entre voyager sur la Mappemonde ou en realite sur la terre * * 
que je meriterai encore longtemps cet honorable reproche." To Mauvillon 16 
June, 1789. 

4 " Imaginez vous que toutes les circumstances militaient contre une denom- 
ination exclusive ou usurpartrice, et que dans ma motion toute entiere (laquelle 
est un ovrrage) on n'avoit trouve a. reprendre, que le titre de peuple." To 
Mauvillon 16 June, 1789. 



22 

In the evening of the same day (15th June) Mirabeau spoke 
again 1 in support of this title responding to the objections that 
had been made to it. "Yes," he exclaimed in closing, "it is 
because the name 'people' is not sufficiently respected in France 
* * * that we ought to impose it upon ourselves not only 
to elevate it, but to render it from this time on respectable to 
ministers and dear to all." Again on the 16th of June, 2 he 
made himself heard in the defence of this much debated word, 
expressing the passionate longing of his heart in the utterance, 
"Ah! if the choice of this name renders to an oppressed 
people firmness and courage, my soul is elevated in contemplat- 
ing the happy consequences that this name may have in the 
future." But the last part of his. discourse was lost in the 
tumult of disapproval that his utterances had called forth and 
he was unable to proceed. 

On this day Sieves spoke again. The title proposed by 
himself had found little favor. Abandoning that, he adopted 
one presented on the previous day by M. le Grand, "National 
Assembly. " It had one great merit ; it was short. The ballot- 
ing took place on the 17th of June and Sieves' title was adopted 
by a large majority. 3 Mirabeau was absent : he had no part in 
formulating- the address decreed bv the Assemblv — and that 
was practically a literal reproduction of Sieves' speech of the 15th 
— yet the decree defining the position of the Assembly on the 



1 Arch. pari. VIII, 118. According to the Archives, Mirabeau spoke twice 
on the 15th and once on the 16th, according to Mejan, once on the first day 
and once on the last. But the second speech given by Mejan is made up of 
the second and third given by the i^rchives. Mirabeau wrote to Mauvillon (16 
June). "J'ai parle trois fois." 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 123. 

. 3Mirabeau always looked upon this step of the Assembly as a great mis- 
fortune. Writing to Mauvillon in June 1789, he said : "Ce grand ouvrage est 
fait et nous nous sommes constitues Assemblee nationale, sur le refus reitere 
des deux ordres de se reunir a nous et de verifier leur pourvoir en commun. 
Ce n' etait pas mon avis." And three months before his death, Mirabeau said 
to Dutnont: " Ah ! mon ami, que nous avions raison quand nous avons voulu, 
des le commencement, empecher les communes de se declarer Asssemblee 
nationale ! C'est la l'origine du mal. lis ont voulu gouverner le roi, au lieu de 
gouverner par lui." Dumont, 267 : Taine. "La Revolution I, p. 182. 



2 3 

national debt and on taxation, embodied all the resolutions 
proposed by Mirabeau on the 16th of June. 1 * 

Mirabeau did not long remain silent ; his famous reply to 
the Marquis de Breze in the royal session of the 23d of June 
sent his name ringing through the length and breadth of 
France, and his proposal, made on the same day, that the 
deputies declare their persons inviolable, was adopted by an 
overwhelming majority. On the 27th of June, the members of 
the nobility that still held themselves aloof, appeared in the 
Assembly. The commons had won a decisive victory. Great 
was the 'rejoicing among the sanguine. ; 'The revolution is 
ended ! This revolution is the work of philosophy, it will not 
have cost a single drop of blood. M They deceived themselves ; 
the ffevolution had just begun. 2 

C. FOURTH OF AUGUST DECREES. 

The three orders were united on the 27th of June, and on 
the 7th of July, the appointment of a committee marked the be- 
ginning- of the work on constitutional reforms. It was to be 
no light task. The monarchy, rotten to the foundation, was 
helpless before the rising flood of the revolution : the Assembly, 
rapidly usurping all power, but utterly incapable of wielding it, 
soon found itself staggering under a burden of business — exec- 
utive, legislative and judicial — that threatened to crush it. To 
follow a definite plan under such circumstances would have 
been difficult, had such a plan always existed, but the men 
who might have guided the Assembly in the ways of moderate 
and reasonable reform, were soon obliged to give place to more 

*Droz attributes the ideas to Sieves : " Cet arrete est presque textuellement 
dans une brochure qu'il avait publiee avant 1'ouverture des etats (Vues sur les 
moyens d'execution^dont les representans du peuple pourrout disposer). II, 215. 
* * * This is quite possible, but the decree is also textually almost the 
the same in Mirabeau's proposals of the 15th of June. Lucas Montigny says : 
''Mais en ecarton la denomination conseillee par Mirabeau Tassemblee avait 
accueillir ses autres propositions reproduites par Target et Chapelier." VIII, 76. 

'Young, commenting upon the action of the commons wrote : " It is a vio- 
lent step which may be taken hold of by the court and converted very much to 
the people's disadvantage. The reason of Mons. Mirabeau against it was forci- 
ble and just.'' June iS, 17S9. 



24 

fiery and revolutionary spirits. In such a state of affairs, it 
was to be" expected that the course of events would depend 
much upon chance and little upon calculation. 1 And so it hap- 
pened, that before the debates upon the reforms proposed by 
the committee had begun, the inarch of events forced upon the 
consideration of the* Assembly three important constitutional 
questions : colonial representation, the majority necessary for 
the passage of a law, and the 4th of August decrees. Compar- 
ed with the last, the first two sink into insignificance, but they 
are of interest from the fact that each aids, if only a little, in 
filling out Mirabeau's u confession of faith. " 

The rich colony of Saint Domingo had sent twenty dele- 
gates to the National Assembly. This number was out of all 
proportion to the white population of the island, but the colon- 
ists demanded that in fixing their representation, the wealth 
of the colony and the whole number of inhabitants — includ- 
ing slaves and free blacks — be taken into consideration. The 
matter came up for discussion on the 3d of July and the wish 
of the colonists found numerous advocates ; Mirabeau was its 
principal opponent. He affirmed that it would have been more 
proper to consider first the question : u Shall delegates from 
the colonies be admitted?" but as the delegates were already 
admitted, it were better to pass this question over in silence 
and consider only the number of representatives to which the 
colonists were entitled. (l The colonists pretend that the num- 
ber of their representatives should be in proportion to the in- 
habitants of the island, the wealth that they produce, and their 
commercial relations : but * * do the colonies pretend to rank 
their negroes and colored people in the class of men or in that 
of beasts of burden ? The colored people are free, proprietors, 



1,1 En etudiant la revolution de 1789, il ne faut jamais perdue de vue que 
l'assemblee nationale reunissait toutes les capacites, tous les talents, toute 
l'energie, tout l'esprit, pour ainsi dire, du royaume, tandis qu'on ne rencon- 
trait guere que de l'incapacite, de l'imprevoyance, de la faiblesse et certaine- 
ment de l'insuffisance pour les circonstances dans les hommes qui cotnpossaient 
le ministere. Celui-ci laissa maladroitement £chapper de ses debiles mains les 
renes du gouvernement ; l'assemblee s'en saisit. Des ce moment, tout tomber 
dans la confusion et la revolution marcha au hasard des passions et des in- 
trigues." Dale Marck I, no. 



25 

and taxpayers, and yet they cannot be electors. If the col- 
onists wish the negroes and colored people to be men, let them 
franchise the first, 1 that all may be electors, that all may be 
elected. In the contrary case, we pray them .to observe, that 
in proportioning the number of deputies to the population of 
France, we have not taken into consideration the quantity of 
our horses nor of our mules ; that thus the pretension of the 
colonists to have twenty representatives is absolutely absurd. " 2 

Here was the question in all its nakedness and here too 
was the solution of it. A vastly important one it was, although 
not so important for France as for the new born nation across 
the water, where it was destined to become a hundred headed 
monster. M. de Sillery, who followed Mirabeau, drew 
an ingenious picture of the wealth of Saint Domingo and urged 
the Assembly to admit the twenty deputies. Mirabeau replied : 
" The question here is not of the riches of Saint Domingo ; it 
is to know if it is necessary to follow for Saint Domingo, an- 
other ratio of representation than that followed in all parts of 
France. * * * The number of deputies ought to be in pro- 
portion to the voters. This law has been general for us and I 
conclude that it ought to be the same for the colonies." 3 This 
was also the opinion of the Assembly and the number of depu- 
ties was reduced to six. 

The discussion upon the majority necessary for the passage 
of a law, took place upon the 29th of July ; it called forth two 
speeches from Mirabeau and a letter in the Courrier de Provence. 
It had been proposed by Rabaud de Saint-Etienrie 4 that two 



J In August, while the discussion upon the rights of man was in progress, 
Mirabeau, writing in the Courrier de Provence, referred to these words : 
"Quand nous addressions ces paroles auxplanteurs, nous ne pensions pas que le 
moment fut si proche ou. la grande cause de la liberte des negres euveloppee 
dans celle de la liberte generale de l'espece humaine, seroit solennellement 
etablie, avouee, sanctionnee par l'assemblee uationale." Courrier de Provence 
XXX, 1-2 20-21 aout. 

2 Arch pari. VIII, 186. 

3Arch. pari. VIII, 187. 

4Qn the 17th of July. 



26 

hundred members should constitute a quorum and that a simple 
plurality be sufficient for the passage of a law. In supporting 
this project, Mirabeau emphasized the necessity of "admitting 
the first elements of order as soon as possible. " The regula- 
tion might not be perfect, but it would serve the Assembly un- 
til experience enabled it to supply something better. Passing 
on to the consideration of the project, he said : "We are here 
twelve hundred ; in the system of the plurality, six hundred 
and one suffice to produce the adoption of a resolution against 
the wish of five hundred and ninety-nine that it be not adopt- 
ed, or what comes to the same thing, who prefer to the state of 
things that one proposes, the state of things where we are, so 
much, that the law proposed had not passed. 

" Follow the advice of those who attack the system of the 
plurality, substitute for it a law that demands more than three- 
fourths of the suffrages to form a resolution. What will hap- 
pen? Three hundred would have more power to maintain their 
opinion than nine hundred to destroy it ; that, in as much as a 
proposition would not have for it nine hundred and one votes, 
it would be without force, or what comes to the same thing, 
that the wish. of nine hundred who think one way, will be sub- 
mitted to the wish of .three hundred who think another. In 
this system, gentlemen, what becomes of justice ? What be- 
comes of the common wish? How then could one say that the 
law is the expression of the general will?" 1 But the project 
still found opponents, notwithstanding Mirabeau' s lucid reason- 
ing. The Bishop of Chartres spoke in favor of a distinction be- 
tween the destruction of an old law and the establishment of a 
new one, between changes in a law, important and grave, and 
a simple law of order having no necessary connection with the 
ensemble of the constitution and its laws ; in the first case, he 
thought a simple plurality sufficient ; in the other, he demanded 
at least a two-thirds vote. 2 In his reply, 3 Mirabeau uttered one 



^-Vrch. pari. VIII, 297. 
2 Arch. pari. VIII, 298. 
3Arch. pari. VIII, 298. 



27 

of those grand truths that were so characteristic of his speeches : 
" Great authorities have accredited the error of graduated 
pluralities toward which he seems to me to incline, but each 
day we learn better, that truth is the daughter of time and not 
of authorities." He then pointed out the impracticability of 
the system proposed, finally urging that the original project be 
adopted. After a somewhat lengthy discussion, this was done. 
In the Courrier de Provence, he looked at the question from an 
entirely different point of view : u The National Assembly is 
composed of heterogeneous parts, some of which have had 
much difficulty in amalgamating themselves to the whole and 
among which it would be easy to unite a majority sufficient to 
arrest everything ! The veto of the orders has been much in- 
vestigated ! Ah ! is it not clear that the graduated plurality is 
exactly the same thing in a more pleasing form ? And that in 
this case, as in the other, it would be always a third or a fourth 
of the Assembly that would give laws to the nation?" 1 The 
truth of this assertion is self-evident ; had a law been passed 
requiring a three-fourths vote for the passage of a resolution, 
the control of the Assembly would have been in the hands of 
the nobility. 

Mirabeau was not present on the 4th of August, 2 when the 
Assembly, seized by a momentary madness, dismantled the old 
feudal structure, sweeping away in one night institutions and 
privileges that had been the growth of centuries. In private, 
he was outspoken in his condemnation of this u orgie;" 3 in 



J Courrier de Provence XXI, 21, (19-31 Juillet). 

2 "I1 s'etait rendu a une reunion de famille convoquee par suite de la mort 
du marquis de Mirabeau." Lucas-Montigny. "Mais pourquoi Mirabeau 
s'abstint il ? parce qu'il connaissait le dessein des moteurs de la seance du 
4 aout ; parce qu'il considerait leur project comme impolitique et perilleur." 
Ibid VI, 168. 

"Informe d'avance de ce qui devait se faire dans cette seance, Mirabeau 
s'abstint d' y assister." De la Marck I, 100. 

3 "II desapprouva aussi tres-hautement tout ce qui se fit dans la fameuse 
seance de nuit du 4 aout 1789, qu'il nomma une orgie." De la Marck I, 100. 



28 

public, both in the Assembly 1 and in the Courrier de Provence, 
he expressed himself more reservedly, taking advantage, how- 
ever, of every opportunity to modify the evil effects that might 
follow from this night of wild excitement. 

The decrees passed in the tumult of that August night, 
were afterwards more calmly discussed, revised and reduced to 
definite form; the sessions of the 7th, 8th, 10th and nth of 
August, were devoted to this work. Upon the u right of chase," 
and " tithes ; n there were long and earnest debates ; the former 
was discussed on the 7th of August. The article under consid- 
eration read : " Every proprietor has the right, to destroy or to 
have destroyed upon his own estate, every kind of game." 
Clermont Tonnerre proposed that an exception be made in 
favor of the king. To this Mirabeau responded : "It has just 
been declared that the right of chase is inherent in property 
and cannot be separated from it. I do not comprehend how 
anyone can propose to the Assembly that the king, this guardi- 
an, this protector of all property, shall be the object of an excep- 
tion in a law that consecrates all property. Let the king, 
like every other proprietor, hunt in his own domains ; they are 
without doubt extended enough. Every man has the right to 
hunt in his own field, no man has the right to hunt in the field 
of another : this principle is sacred for the monarch as well as 
for every other." The abolition of all capitaineries "even 
royal," was decreed with the saving clause that, "the conserv- 
ation of the pleasures of the king shall be provided for by 
measures compatible with the respect due to property and 
liberty." 2 

The abolition of tithes, church, feudal, and laical, was 
discussed on the 10th of August. In the latter two, Mirabeau 
recognized a proprietary right, that must be purchased ; he 



*In a speech delivered the 19th of August, he said : " II n'en est pas moins 
vrai que si ces arretes eussent paru plus lentement, si les discussions qui les ont 
suivis les eussent precedes, il n'en seroit resulte aucune inquietude sur les 
proprietes." Arch. pari. VIII, 460. 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 359. 



29 

denied that right to the tithes of the church. 1 u No gentle- 
men," he said, "the tithe is not a proprietary right : a propri- 
etary right extends itself alone to that one who may alienate 
the property ; and the clergy could never do that. History 
offers us a thousand cases of the suspension of tithes, of the 
application of tithes for the benefit of seniors, or for other pur- 
poses, and of restitution afterwards to the church ; thus the 
tithes have never been anything more than annual enjoyments 
of simple possessions revocable at the will of the sovereign. The 
motion abolishes the ecclesiastical tithes, because they are a 
burdensome means of paying for a part of the public service 
for which they are destined and because it is easy to replace 
them in a manner less expensive and more equal." 2 The As- 
sembly declared that " Tithes of every kind and rents that take 
the place of them * * * shall be abolished." 

The debates were ended and the decrees were presented to 
the king. 3 What action w T ould he take? Many of the nobility 
believed that he would exercise his newly acquired veto upon 
them. On the 14th of September, in the midst of the debate 
upon the duration of the royal veto, Barnave proposed that the 
deliberations upon this subject be suspended until the Assem- 
bly had decided whether the king have the right to veto the 
4th of August decrees. 4 Mirabeau took the ground that they 
could not be vetoed ; he could not consistently have taken any 
other ground. He was simply applying the principles laid 

I<c Quand aux dimes infeodees et laiques, le preopinant a tout dit. II a 
bien expose le principe, que la propriete n'appartient reellement qu' a celui 
qui peut transmettre, et qu'on troubleroit tout en remontant au traversdu com- 
merce des terrains pour jeter des doutes sur le titre primitif." Arch. pari. 
VIII, 386. 

"Les dimes infeodees a l'usage de l'Bglise sont a la Nation. Celles qui 
appartiennent aux laics sont le bien des individus. La Nation peut abaudonner 
ses proprietes, mais non disposer de celles des autres sans leur consentement." 
Courrier de Provence XXVII, 22, 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 385. 

3 "Une telle importance s'attachait an decret sur les reformes du 4 aout, a 
cette charte d'abolition de la feodalite, que 1'assemblee entiere se rendit pres 
du roi pour la lui presenter." (13 aout). Droz. II, 420. 

*Arch. pari. VIII, 636. 



3° 

down by himself on ist of September, 1 when on the 14th of 
the same month he declared : "It was necessary to clear away 
without doubt, in order to raise the edifice of the constitution 
and of liberty. These decrees are not laws, but constitutional 
principles and bases. When then you sent the acts of the 4th 
of August for sanction, it was their promulgation alone that 
you desired." 2 

A long and heated discussion followed. It was affirmed by 
the opponents of the theory advocated by Mirabeau, that the 
decrees w r ere true legislative articles and therefore needed the 
king's sanction. "The articles," answered Mirabeau, u may be 
divided into two classes : some are constitutional, others are 
small individual sacrifices of private munificence. In the hearts 
and heads of all the members of this Assembly, there is a gen- 
eral principle, and one that decides the question ; it is that the 
general will makes the law. It has manifested itself by the 
decrees, the addresses, the acts of adhesion from the provinces 
and by the public joy. I demand if the general will could be 
more solemnly manifested." 3 He then called for the reading of 
Barnave's motion declaring his determination to support it. The 
motion was at once read and adopted. On the 18th of Septem- 
ber an answer was received from the king ; "in place of the 
simple monosyllable that had been demanded of him, he re- 
sponded with a memoir." After the reading of this paper, M. 
Goupil moved that a committee of sixty be appointed to ex- 
amine it and make a report. M. Chapellier opposed this propo- 
sition and demanded that the Assembly fix at once the terms of 
the sanction required of the king. Mirabeau supported Cha- 
pellier' s proposition. 4 "To return to the articles of the 4th is an 



J "Je pense que le droit de suspendre, et nieme d'arreter Paction du corps 
legislatif, doit appartenir au roi quand la constitution sera faite, et qu'il s'agira 
seulemeiit de la maintenir. Mais ce droit d'arreter, ce veto ne sauroit s'exercer 
quand il s'agit de creer la constitution ; je ne concois pas comment on pourroit 
disputer a un peuple le droit de se donner a lui meme la constitution par 
laquelle il lui plait d'etre gouverne desormais." Arch. pari. VIII, 538. 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 637. 

3Arch. pari. VIII, 639. 

4 Arch. pari. IX, 32. 



3 1 

act equally irregular, impolitic and impossible. To inquire if 
it had been possible — as it undoubtedly had been — to dispense 
with presenting them for sanction, would be superfluous, since 
they have been already presented. Let us seek then the part 
that we ought to take. :;: * * We have thought for the most 
part, that the examination of the constitutional power in its 
relations to the prince, was at bottom superfluous and danger- 
ous in the circumstances. But this examination is superfluous 
only so long as we recognize, tacitly at least, the unlimited 
rights of the constitutional power. If these are contested, the 
discussion of them becomes necessary and the danger would lie 
principally in indecision." Then, in a masterly manner, he 
sketched the situation in France, pointed to the danger of a 
general conflagration and urged harmony and moderation. 
"Let its talk clearly — let us dare to say mutually, T desire to 
go so far— I will go no farther.'" Turning to the considera- 
tion of the decrees, he went on : "The sudden execution of the 
decrees of the 4th of August — passed with a precipitation ren- 
dered necessary by the emulation that moved the Assembly — 
would have produced, without doubt, great inconveniences. 
The Assembly felt this and obviated the difficulties by attach- 
ing restrictions to the decrees." For this reason, the king 
could not attribute his failure to promulgate them to the im- 
possibility of execution. Promulgation w r as the only course 
that could be followed. The people enjoy these decrees already 
in anticipation, and were they contested to-day, the discontent, 
almost universal, would be increased. 1 * * "We are all inter- 
ested in this, that the sanction pure and simple of the decrees, 
moderated by our reservations, re-establish harmony and con- 
cord * * I demand that our president receive the order to be- 
take himself anew to the king, to declare to him that we await 
in session the promulgation of our decrees." This was done 



J "Des deputes disaient avec raison queles arretes du4 aout avoient ete rep- 
andus dans tout le royaume ; que les peuples ne souffriroient pas qu'on se 
jouat des esperances qu'on leur avoit donnees, et qu'en suspeudre l'execution, 
c'etoit ramener le trouble et l'anarchie." Courrier Provence, XLJ, 24, (11 au 
14 Septehiber). 



32 

with the saving clause that the Assembly would take into the 
most careful consideration, his (the king's) observations upon 
many articles when it occupied itself with the settlement of the 
laws in detail. On the 21st of September, a letter from the 
king announced that the decrees had been made public. 

Many writers 1 have seen but little " method in the mad- 
ness" of the man who appeared now in the front rank of the 
defenders of the monarchy, now leading the assaulting column 
against it ; now condemned the 4th of August decrees, now de- 
manded there promulgation. Yet these acts are not so incon- 
sistent as they appear on the surface. * In transforming the old 
absolute monarchy, of which Mirabeau was the most bitter op- 
p.onent, into the constitutional monarchy, of which he was the 
most energetic advocate, it was necessary to distinguish clearly 
between the rights of the monarch and the rights of the people ; 2 
to the superficial observer, the man who advocated now one, 
now the other, was simply devoid of principle, inconsistent and 
waiting for an opportunity to sell his services to the highest 
bidder. 3 That Mirabeau condemned the acts of that famous 



11 'Mirabeau guide par l'ambition d'etre a. la fois l'homme monarchique et 
l'honime populaire, passait souvent d'un camps dans un autre." Droz. II, 467. 

" II marchait au milieu d'une revolution en examinant toujours quel parti 
il en pourrait tirer pour son ambition ou pour sa fortune ; il n'aimait pas les 
crimes gratuits. " Lacretelle I, 163. 

2U Soutenir la royaute sans abandonner la revolution, s'opposer a. toute 
usurpation de quelque cote qu'elle vienne, et ne sacrifier la liberte ni a ses 
gouts, ni a sa raison, est un effort de genie dont peu d'honimes sont capables, 
et il faut admirer Mirabeau pour avoir pris et sontenu ce role avec autant de 
fermete." Raynald, 255. 

^Writing to Mauvillon on the 16th of June 1789, Mirabeau referred as fol- 
lows to the idea so current in regard to himself: "On a pense m'ecarteler, et 
fait circuler que j'etois l'homme du gouvernement. En verite je me vends a 
tant de gens, que je ne comprends pas, comment je n'ai pas encore acquis la 
monarchie universelle." 

"Leleger service que je venais de lui rendre me donnait quelque droit 
d'entrer avec lui dans les details sur sa position pecuniare, etj 'acquis ainsi la 
certitude que cet homme, que tout le monde avait represents comme venal, 
n'avait jamais sacrifie aucun principe pour l'argent." De la Marck I, 102. 



33 

August night, 1 has already been stated; why he should, not- 
withstanding, demand the proclamation of the decrees is suffic- 
iently explained by the sentence, u The people enjoy these 
decrees already in anticipation, and were they contested to-day, 
the discontent almost universal, would be increased. " Mira- 
beau was a statesman and he alone can be a statesman who rec- 
ognizes the truth of the words, U I1 ne suffit pas d'etre grand 
homme, il faut venir a propos." 



IV. FORMATION OF A NEW GOVERNMENT. 

A. RIGHTS OF MAN. 

The committee that had been appointed to present a plan 
for a constitution, reported on the 9th day of July. Mtfunier, 
who spoke in the name of his colleagues, read a list of topics 
to be considered by the Assembly ; the first of all was entitled, 
4t A Declaration of the Rights of Man." 2 After a long debate, 
the plan was adopted. Lafayette, overflowing with enthusiasm 
for ideal liberty, 3 and ready in season and out of season to prove 
his devotion to it, hastened to champion the wishes of the 
people, as expressed in the cahiers and voiced by the commit- 
tee, and presented on the nth of July, a sketch of a declaration 
of rights. 4 It was not discussed at that time, but on the 14th 



1,1 Au lieu d'une renonciation bien moins solemnelle qu'un decret, j'aurais 
voulu que toutes les questions de privileges et de fiefs, de proprieties acquises a 
titre onereux, eussent ete discutees, on aurait moins detruit, mais on aurait ex- 
cite moins de prevention : chaque parti aurait regagne par la conciliation des 
esprits .qu'il aurait perdue par des sacrifices ; on aurait du moins evite le danger 
d'ecraser sous un monceau de ruines l'edifice naissant de la liberte." Mirabeau 
a. son oncle, du 25 Oct. 1789. Lucas-Montigny VI, 176. 

2 This had been called for by a large part of the cahiers. See p. 34. 

3 "La Fayette etait ne avec l'amour de la liberte, comme d'autres naissent 
avec l'amour des arts." Droz. II, 294. 

4 "Longtemps apres. on a demande a. La Fayette comment il n'avait pas 
craint les efFets que cette declaration produirait sur la multitude : il a repondu 
qu'un peril imminent menacait l'etat, que l'assemblee pouvait etre dissoute et 



34 

of July, when a new committee was appointed, Lafayette's plan 
was referred to it. On the 27th of July, this committee made a 
double report ; the Bishop of Bordeaux read a sketch of the 
first two chapters of the constitution ; the first, treating the 
declaration of rights, the second, the principles of the French 
government. Clermont Tonnerre gave an analysis of the 
cahiers. While all of them agreed in the desire of a regenera- 
tion of the state, they were not united upon the way in which 
this was to be accomplished ; one part wished the reform of 
abuses, the other demanded a new constitution ; and the only 
difference between the cahiers desiring reform and those calling 
.for a new government, lay in the demand of the latter that the 
first chapter of the constitution contain a declaration of the 
rights of man. 

This naturally raised the question, "Shall the constitution 
be preceded by a declaration of rights ?" It was discussed in 
the sessions of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th of August, and on the latter 
day, the Assembly voted almost unanimously in the affirmative. 

Besides the declarations proposed by Lafayette and the 
committee, many others had been presented and to escape the 
chaos into which it seemed about to fall, the Assembly adopted, 
on the 1 2th of August, the proposal of Desmeuniers that a 
committee be appointed to examine the various projects and to 
report upon them. This committee was named on the follow- 
ing day, and Mirabeau was one of the members. It seemed 
like the mockery of fate that the first opportunity given him to 
take the initiative, should be upon a question that his practical 
sense would not allow him to support. 1 Up to this time, he 

la nation libree au despotisme, qu'alors il avait voulu planter un drapeau sous 
lequel viendraient, dans d'autres temps, se rallier les Francais." Droz. II, 293. 
"La Fayette avait presente le sien des le 11 juillet a l'Assemblee Nationale, 
mais on peut dire qu'il avait ete lui meme devance par le parlement de Paris." 
Lucas-Montigny, VI, 197. 

lil Une declaration nue des droits de Phomme, applicable a tous les ages, a 
tous les peuples, a tous les latitudes morales et geographiques du globe, etait 
sans doute une grande et belle idee ; mais il semble qu' avant de penser si gen- 
ereusement au code des autres nations, il eut ete bon que les bases du notre 
fussent, si non posees, du moins convennis." Courrier de Provence. No. 
XXI, 1, (22 and 23 aout). 



35 

had taken no part in the debate, but favored an adjournment 
of the declaration and expressed his opinion to that effect in 
the Courrier de Provence. 1 

On the 17th of August, Mirabeau read a project that had 
received the approval of the committee. 2 In the speech 3 that 
preceded the reading, he pointed out clearly the difficulty 
of framing a declaration of this nature and the danger of pub- 
lishing it in advance of the constitution. 4 The project found 
but little favor, and the debate, beginning anew on the same 
day, continued until the 19th of August. Rabaud de Saint- 
Etienne attacked the project on the 18th, declaring that it lacked 
order and that he desired u such clearness, truth and simplicity 
in the principles and conclusions that everybody could grasp 
and understand them." 5 To this Mirabeau replied : "The 
committee of five reflected too long upon the declarations of 
rights, that served as a basis of their work, not to be convinc- 
ed how much easier it is to criticise them than to make a good 
one ; and the late debates upon this matter, as well as those 
that have occupied this session, ought to leave no doubt on this 
point." 6 Later in the day, he made an effort to secure the post- 
ponement of the discussion and to prevent the appearance of 
the declaration before the completion of the constitution. 7 "I 
propose as an individual, and not as a member of the commit- 

r "Il est done absolument necessaire qu' une declaration des droits ne soit 
point jetee en avant de la constitution dont elle est la base, afin que les prin-. 
cipes de la liberte, accompagnes des lois qui en djrigent l'exercise, soient un 
bienfait pour le peuple, et non pas un piege, et non pas un tourment." Cour- 
rier de Provence, No. XXVIII, 2 (17 au 18 aout.) 

2 "Dumont, Claviere, Du Roveray waren seine Gehilfen bei dieser Arbiet 
gewesen, die vom Comitee der Fiinf geuehmigt worden war." Stern, II, 56. 

3Arch. pari. VIII, 438. 

4 In a note to his printed speech of August 19, Mirabeau wrote : "Carje 
persiste a. croire une declaration des droits impossible a. rediger aujourd'hui si 
l'on veut qu'elle ne soit ni dangereuse, ni insignifiante, et Ton travaille tres- 
peniblement et tres-longuement a. prouver, par le fait, que j'ai raison." Mejan 
II, 38. 

5Arch. pari. VIII, 453. 

6 Arch. pari. VIII, 453- 

'Arch. pari. VIII. 454. 



36 

tee of five, to decree anew that the declaration of rights ought 
to be an integral and inseparable part of the constitution and 
form the first chapter of it. I propose further— and the long 
embarassment of the Assembly proves to me that I am right in 
proposing it — that the definite composition of the declaration 
of rights be postponed to the time when the other parts of the 
constitution shall themselves be fully known and fixed." This 
proposition served only to arouse the distrust of many deputies 
and called forth the charge that he was trifling with the Assem- 
bly in thus urging it to revoke decrees already made. 1 

At length, wearied by the long debate, the Assembly voted 
on the 19th of August, to choose one of the many projects and 
to discuss it article by article. The one selected was that pre- 
sented by the sixth bureau ; the discussion began upon the 20th 
of August. Only two articles of the original project were left 
intact and the circumstances under which the first of these was 
adopted are so characteristic of the temper of the Assembly, 
that they deserve to be recounted. The first nineteen articles 
had been rejected and substitutes offered. The twentieth was 
reached ; a great many new readings had been presented, dif- 
fering in form but not in substance from the original article. 
Just at this point, M. M. Modier and de Lally remarked that 
the only fault with the article was that it had been composed 
by the sixth bureau. This unexpected witticism revolutioniz- 
ed opinion and the article was unanimously adopted. 

*In Mirabeau's reply occurs this justly famous passage: "Sansdoute, au 
milieu d'une jeunesse tres-orageuse, par la faute des autres, et sur-tout par la 
mienne, j'ai en de grands torts, et peud'hommes ont, dans leur vie privee, donne 
plus que moi, pretexte a. la calomnie, pature a la medisance : mais j'ose vous 
en attester tous : nul ecrivain, nul homme public n' a plus que moi le droit 
de s'honorer de sentiment courageux, de vues desinteressees, d'une fiere 
independance, d'une uniformite de principes inflexibles. Ma pretendue su- 
periorite dans l'art de vrais guider vers des buts contraires, est done une injure 
vide de sens, un trait lance du bas en haut, que trente volumes repoussent assez 
pour que je dedaigne de m'en occuper." Arch. pari. VIII, 454. 

"DieStelle 'Sansdoute, au milieu d'une jeunesse tres-orageuse' etc., schon in 
der Schrift, Reponse du comte de Mirabeau a l'Bcrivain des Administrateurs de 
la compagnie des Baux de Paris (s. o. Band I, S. 190) S. 101." Stern II, 57, 
note 1. 



37 

During these discussions that lasted until the 26th of 
August, Mirabeau spoke five times : twice upon the responsi- 
bility of all agents of the executive power, twice upon religious 
tolerance and once upon the freedom of the press. 

Article VII of the project adopted by the Assembly de- 
clared that, "those who solicit, expedite, execute or have 
executed arbitrary orders, ought to be punished." To this, it 
was objected, that subordinates in the executive department 
ought not to be held responsible for orders received from their 
superiors and that, moreover, responsibility, being an object of 
detail, ought not to enter into a declaration of rights. Upon 
this topic, Mirabeau could speak out of a full experience, for 
he had suffered much from the execution of arbitrary orders by 
irresponsible subordinates. 1 u Responsibility," he exclaimed, 
"would be an illusion if it did not extend itself from the first 
minister to the last sbire. 2 That does not suppose that the 
subaltern should judge the order of which he is a bearer, but 
he may at the same time and he ought to judge of the form of 
the order. * * * In a word, the public force should be sub- 
mitted to forms determined by law, and there is no other kind 
of inconvenience in that, but the necessity of having from now 
on, laws clear and precise, and that is one argument more in 
favor of the dogma of responsibility." 3 And the responsibility 
was decreed. 

The same day there was an exciting discussion upon 
articles 16, 17 and 18, touching religious liberty. The language 
in which Mirabeau expressed himself could not be misunder- 
stood. 4 U I am not about to preach tolerance," he began. 

z It was against the arbitrary acts of the French government that his work : 
" Des lettres de cachet " (1782) was directed. In the preface, he wrote : " Mais 
qui pourroit, sans un chagrin amer, entendre des citoyens, d'ailleurs honnetes 
& incapables d'encenser le despotisme, adapter legerement des maxims destruc- 
tives de toute liberte & se laisser persuader par des exemples particuliers que 
la violation des regies & des loix est utile ou meme necessaire ? Quelle res- 
source nous reste-t-il, si l'opinion publique invoque l'arbitraire ?" Preface p. VII. 

2 " Sbire" from the Italian sbirro=ba.iliff. Arch. pari. VII, 471. 

3Arch. pari. VIII, 472. 
4 Arch. pari. VIII, 473. 



38 

"The most unlimited religious liberty is, in my eyes, a right so 
sacred, that the word tolerance, intended to express it, appears 
to me in a certain way tyrannical, since the existence of a 
power that tolerates, attaints the freedom of thought by the very 
fact that it tolerates and may also be able not to tolerate. " 
The Assembly was not treating this question of worship 
from the true standpoint. " Men did not bring worship into 
society, it was born only in the community. It is then an in- 
stitution purely social and conventional. It is a duty, but this 
duty gives birth to a right, namely : that no man may be dis- 
turbed in his worship. This is the only article it is necessary 
to insert in the declaration of rights on this subject." The 
next day, articles 16 and 17 were postponed and the discussion 
continued on article 18 that read: "Every citizen that does not 
trouble the established worship, ought not to be disturbed." 
Again Mirabeau spoke "submitting some reflections to show that 
worship is a duty and not a right, and that the only thing that 
pertained to the declaration was to boldly pronounce religious 
liberty." Some say that worship is an object of exterior police. 
Do they speak as catholics or as legislators? In either case 
their position is untenable, for if worship is an object of regu- 
lation it is civil, fallable and not divine ; no catholic would 
concede that. On the other hand, worship consists of prayers, 
hymns, and discourses and no legislator would think of sub- 
mitting these things to the inspection of the police. Again, 
they speak of the dominant worship. That word should be 
banished from the legislation. _ " Nothing should dominate but 
justice." But his eloquent pleading availed nothing ; the As- 
sembly decreed thst "no one ought to be disturbed for his 
opinions, even religious, provided that their manifestation does 
not disturb the public order established bylaw." Upon this 
decree, Mirabeau expressed himself in the Courrier de Provence 
as follows : "We ought not to dissimulate our grief that the 
National Assembly, instead of destroying the germ of intoler- 
ance, has placed it in reserve in a declaration of the rights of 



'Arch, pari. VIII, 476. 

2 Courrier de Provence, XXXI, 44 (22 and 23 aout). 



39 

The discussion upon the liberty of the press took place on 
the 24th of August ; it was article 19 of the project and read : 
"The free communication of thought, being the right of a 
citizen, ought to be restricted only in so far as it is injurious 
to others." 

Mirabeau, who often assumed the role of critic in the As- 
sembly, at once submitted this article to searching analysis. 
He drew the line sharply between restriction and repression ; 
the latter punishes the crime when committed, the former at- 
tempts to anticipate its commission. "It is the crime only 
that one may punish, and the liberty of men ought not to be 
fettered under the pretext that they wish to commit crimes." 1 
He requested that the word "repress" be substituted for 
"restrict." The article was rejected and one corresponding to 
Mirabeau's idea was adopted. 

On the 26th of August, the work upon the declaration of 
rights was ended. As completed, it consisted of seventeen 
articles with a preamble : the latter was adopted entire from 
the project presented by Mirabeau, August 17th. 

B. THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 

Reference has already been made to the report of Mounier 
on the 7th of July. Before reading the plan of work prepared 
by the committee, he referred briefly to the significance and the 
importance of the task upon which the Assembly was engaged. 
Up to that time, France had possessed no constitution. Cer- 
tain maxims, such as the exclusion of women from the throne, 
and the idea that the nation could not be taxed without its own 
consent, had always been recognized, but one could give the 
name of government neither to the Assemblies of the March 
and Mayfields of the first and second races, nor to the feudal 
aristocracy, nor to the government that had prevailed since 
1614. He then read the report of the committee enumerating 
the chapters of the constitution in their order ; they were as 
follows : 

Declaration of the Rights of Man. 

'Arch, pari. VIII, 483. 



4° 

Principles of the Monarchy. 

Rio-hts of the Nation. 

Rights of the King. 

Rio-hts of the Citizen under the French Government. 

Organization and Functions of the National Assembly. 

Forms Necessary for the Establishment of Laws. 

Organizations and Functions of the Assemblies, Provincial 
and Municipal. 

Principles, Obligations and Limits of Judicial Power. 

Functions and Duties of the Military Power. 1 

This arrangement was adopted, and on the 14th of July, a 
new committee of eight was appointed. The report of this 
committee made on the 27th of July by the Bishop of Bordeaux 
and Clermont Tonnerre, has already been considered. The de- 
bates upon the 4th of August decrees and upon the declaration 
of rights, caused the work upon the constitution proper to be 
delayed until the 29th of August. 

On this day, Mounier, reporting in the name of the com- 
mittee, read six articles under the title, "The principles of the 
French government." The first of these began with the words, 
"The French government is a monarchial government." This 
expression raised a storm of disapproval and new readings were 
showered in from every side ; of the some forty received, none 
was more remarkable than that of the Baron von Wimpfen, 
"The French government is a royal democracy." The confusion 
was extreme, and without reaching any conclusion, the Assem- 
bly adjourned. The following day, as the discussion upon 
article one was about to open anew, Viscomte de Noailles pro- 
posed, that previous to the debate upon any other questions, 
the following points should be settled : 2 

1. To decide what one understands by the royal sanction. 

2. If it is necessary for legislative acts. 

3. In what case and what manner it ought to be employed. 

^rch. pari. VIII, 217. 

2 The last two questions are given as formulated by Mejan : the Archives 
(VIII, 509) enumerate the first three and add : "Je propose encore de joindre a. 
ces questions celle de la permanence desEtats, de l'organization de l'Assemblee 
en une ou deux chambres." 



4i 

4. Shall the National Assembly be permanent? 

5. Shall it be composed of two chambers or of one only ? 
During the whole of the 29th of August, this proposal was 

discussed and finally adopted. Owing to other business, the 
debates upon the questions themselves did not begin until the 
1st of September. 

I. ROYAL POWER. » 

a. Veto. 

The discussion upon the royal veto began upon the 1st of 
September. It was one of the few great debates that rose like 
mountain peaks out of "the deluge of commonplace. " It was 
a debate conducted in the midst of great public excitement 
and this excitement made itself felt in the Assembly. 1 At this 
time too the political ignorance of the masses of the capital 
was made only too clear ; an ignorance at once ludicrous and 
frightful, bearing, as it did in its bosom, the germs of the reign 
of terror. 2 

For the question under consideration there were three pos- 
sible solutions and there were three parties in the Assembly ; 
the advocates of the absolute veto, as it was called, of the sus- 
pensive veto, and of no veto. The cahiers were unanimously 
in favor of the first, but since the formulation of these demands, 

lU Dans la seance de la veille (31 aout) l'assemblee avait recu, et ne s'en 
etait point occupee differentes lettres anonymes et signees : dans lesquelles un 
grand nombre d'hommes si disoient disposes a punir la cabale qui voudroit 
donner au roi un veto quelconque." Mejan II, 88. 

2 " Plus ce mot veto etait intelligible pour le peuple, plus il etait facile de 
lui en donner une idee terrible. On parvint a. la faire redouter comme un per- 
sonnage dangereux. Un homme demanda de quel district il etait ; un autre 
opina pour qu'on mit a. la laterne." Toulongeon I, p. 68 (Quoted by Lucas- 
Montigny). 

" A gentleman here tells us an anecdote which shows how well this nation 
is adapted to the enjoyment of freedom. He walked near a knot of people 
collected together where an orator was haranguing. The substance of his 
oration was : "Messieurs, nous mauquons du pain, et voici la raison. II n'y a 
que trois jours que le Roi a eu ce veto suspensif, et deja les aristocrats ont 
achete des suspensions et et envoye les grains hors du Royaume. To this sen- 
sible and profound discourse his audience gave a hearty consent. 'Ma foi, il a 
raison, ce n'est que 5a.' " Morris I, 173. 



42 

public opinion— at least the public opinion that influenced the 
Assembly — had made tremendous strides in advance and the 
majority of the delegates favored the suspensive veto. 

Mirabeau's position on the latter subject was a peculiar one; 
while favoring- an unlimited veto, he was looked upon outside 
of the Assembly as an advocate of the suspensive veto or even 
as the opponent of the veto in any form. He had already 
many times declared himself in favor of the veto. On the 15th 
of June, in his first speech, he said i 1 "Can the authority of the 
monarch slumber for an instant? Is it not necessary that he 
should concur in your decrees ?" And in his second speech on 
the evening of the same day, he spoke in a manner that should 
have left no uncertainty in the minds of his hearers: "And I, 
gentlemen, believe the veto of the king so necessary, that I 
had rather live at Constantinople than in France, if he did not 
have it." 2 Again in his speech upon the "right of chase, " he 
referred to the veto in these words : 3 "When it shall be a ques- 
tion of the royal prerogative, that is to say, as I will demon- 
strate in its time, of the most precious domain of the people, 
one will judge whether I know the extent of it. Ah ! I defy 
in advance, the most royalist of my colleagues, to carry far- 
ther the religious respect for it." 4 This would seem to leave 
no doubt as to his opinion on the question, aiid yet there was 
"general astonishment," when, in the debate, he supported the 
absolute veto. 5 How great this astonishment was, it is difficult 
to tell, but the astonishment of the modern reader is even 
greater, when, after a perusal of Mirabeau's speech on the veto, 
he reads that, "the conclusions were so involved that the pub- 



x Arcli pari. VIII, no. 

2 Arch, pari. VIII, 118. 

3 Arch. pari. VIII, 359. 

■^This passage is from Lucas-Montigny, (VI, 183): the Archives have "res- 
pectable" in place of "royaliste." 

5 <( L'abbe Maury defendit avec force et talent le veto absolu, et, a l'etonne- 
ment general, trouva un second dans le comte de Mirabeau." Lacretelle, 
Tassemblee constituante I, 163. 



43 

lie could believe that he combatted the veto." 1 It was on the 
first day of the debate that Mirabeau spoke as follows : 2 "In 
the best organized monarchy, the royal authority is always the 
object of the fears of the citizens : that one whom the law 
places above all, may easily become a rival to the law. Suffici- 
ently powerful to protect the constitution, he is often tempted 
to destroy it ; yet, if one considers with candor the principles 
and nature of a monarchial government instituted upon the 
base of the sovereignty of the people, if one examines atten- 
tively the circumstances that gave place to its formation, one 
will see that the monarch ought rather to be looked upon as 
the protector of the people than as the enemy to its happiness. 
Two powers are necessary to the existence and to the functions 
of a body politic : that of willing and that of acting. * * In 
a great nation, these two powers cannot be exercised by itself : 
hence the necessity of the representatives of the people for the 
exercise of the faculty of willing or of the legislative power, 
hence also the need of another kind of representatives for the 
exercise of the faculty of acting or the executive power. The 
more considerable the nation is, the more important that this 
last power should be active ; hence the necessity of a unique 
and supreme chief. * * * Both of these powers are equally 
necessary, equally dear to the nation. 

"The executive power, acting con tinuallylupon the people, 
is in a most intimate relation to it, and it is of importance that 
this power have in its hands a sure means of maintaining itself. 
This means exists in the right attributed to the supreme chief 

I( 'Voici quelques extraits du discours de Mirabeau dont les conclusions 
furent assez enveloppees pour que le public put croire qu'il cornbattait le veto." 
Buchez II, 411. 

M On put voir combien les hommes exaltes craignaient de s'aliener Mira- 
beau. Les journalistes opposes au veto n'oisaient annoncer qu'il avait com- 
battu leur opinion. Gorsas, dans son Courrier de Versailles, dit qu'on ne sait 
s'il parle sur ou contre ou pour le veto. La chronique de Paris suppose qu'il a 
propose un veto suspensif, parce qu'il avait dit, avec raison, qu' a proprement 
parler il n'y a pas de veto illimite. Camille Desmoulins disait que les ennemies 
de Mirabeau repandoient le bruit qu' il soutenait le veto ; mais que e'etait une 
calomnie." Droz. II, 452. See Stern II, 64-68. 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 537. 



44 

of a nation to examine the acts of the legislative body and of 
giving or refusing to them the sacred character of a law. Sup- 
pose that the prince had used this veto * * * the Assembly 
would have divers means of influencing the will of the king ; 
it could refuse the impost, it could refuse the army, it could re- 
fuse both, or simply veto them for a short time. The prince, 
menaced by a paralysis of his powers for a known period, has 
no other means than an appeal to the people, a dissolution of 
the Assembly. If then, the people send back the same depu- 
ties to the Assembly, is it not necessary that the prince obey ? For 
that is final 1 ; whatever idea one has given him up to then, of his 
pretended sovereignty, then he ceases to be one in opinion with 
his people and what his people has declared." This brief ex- 
tract from a long and careful argument, in which the points, 
merely touched upon above, were fully developed, could have 
left no doubt in the minds of the intelligent members of the 
Assembly in regard to Mirabeau's position. In his closing 
words, he summed up the substance of his speech, by declaring 
in favor of a "royal sanction without written restrictions, but 
perfectly limited in fact. " 

The discussion upon the veto was continued through the 
sessions of the ist, 2nd, and 3rd of September, and on the 4th, 
5th, and 7th, the questions of the permanence of the Assembly 
and its organization were debated. It was Mirabeau's intention 
to speak again, 2 but the action of the government prevented 
him from doing so 3 and on the seventh, the debate was closed. 

*"Car c'estla le vrai mot." 

2<< Mirabeau, qui avait sur cette question un travail tout pret, qu'un M. 
Reibasc (Reybaz?) avait redige sous sa direction, ne prit pas la parole quand il 
vit le ministre abandonner le principe monarchique. II previt qu'il serait 
battu, s'il se mettaitseul en avant, et prefera ne point s'exposer a une defaite." 
De la Marck I, 100. 

3"Necker recommandait une circonspection extreme a l'egard du veto, et 
disait si Ton n'etait pas certain d'une grande majorite en faveur du veto absolu, 
la prudence exigeait qu'on ne s'obstinat point a le soutenir. II fit plus : il lut 
au conseil un rapport*dans lequel il developpait l'opinion que le veto suspens- 
ive offrait autant d'avantages et moins d' inconvenients que le veto illimite: 
et il obtint facilement de Louis XVI l'autorization de communiquer ce rapport 
a l'Assemblee nationale." Droz. II, 460. 



45 

At the opening of the following session, the president read 
to the Assembly a long list of subjects to be voted upon. This 
produced a stormy discussion, many shorter and less complicat- 
ed lists being presented ; one of them by Mirabeau. In his 
analysis of the questions, he spoke of the veto as follows : "If 
one demands of me, 'Do you wish an absolute veto ? or a sus- 
pensive veto ?' I respond, it is necessary first, to ask me, if I 
wish a veto ; since the absolute veto is not a thing of reason. nI 
He then proposed an order of deliberation, but from all the ar- 
rangements presented, the Assembly chose that of Camus ; it con- 
sisted of four questions, the third and fourth upon the veto : 

3. Shall there be a royal sanction or not ? 

4. Shall it'be suspensive, or pure and simple? 

It was not until the nth of September, that the Assembly 
reached the third question and as it was about tbbe put to vote, 
the president announced that he had received a letter from the 
minister of finance requesting him to lay before the Assembly 
a report made to the royal council on the subject of the veto, 
Mirabeau opposed the reading and from one sentence in his re- 
marks it appears very probable that he knew the contents of 
the letter : "Suppose," said he, "that in this report the king 
should refuse the veto, one ought none the less to attach this 
prerogative to the royal power, if the Assembly consider that 
the right of suspending the acts of the legislative body is use- 
ful to the liberty of the nation." 2 The letter was not read, but 
it had its effect, for in the same session the suspensive veto was 
decreed by an overwhelming majority, and on the 21st of the 
same month, the duration of the veto was limited to two legis- 
latures. 

. b. Inviolability and Heredity. 

In his speech upon the veto, Mirabeau had dwelt upon the 
necessity of declaring the person of the king inviolable and 
sacred, "without which the throne will never be secure against 
ambitious men." On the 15th of September, a member of the 
nobility, appropriating this idea, proposed that the Assembly 

'Arch. pari. VIII, 603. 
2 Arch. pari. VIII, 609. 



4 6 

decree the heredity of the throne and the inviolability of the 
person of the king. The proposition was received with great 
favor, and after some discussion took the following form : 
i. The person of the king is inviolable and sacred. 

2. The throne is indivisible. 

3. The crown is hereditary from male to male in the 
order of primogeniture, to the absolute exclusion of females 
and their descendants. 

The last article gave rise to a debate on the subject of the 
Spanish succession ; it filled three sessions. M. Arvoux mov- 
ed that the reigning branch of Spain that had renounced its 
claim upon the throne in the treaty of Utrecht, should be ex- 
cluded from the succession. Many members favored the post- 
ponement of the consideration of this question, on the ground 
that it was "delicate, dangerous and impolitic." Mirabeau also 
favored postponement. 1 "W.ithout doubt," he said, "it will 
be necessary to occupy ourselves some day with this question, 
if it were only to substitute for this, too long consecrated ex- 
pression of family compact, that of national compact. But our 
affairs do not permit us to occupy ourselves with our foreign 
relations." The adjournment was rejected, however, and the 
debate began. "From his knowledge of the geography of the 
Assembly," Mirabeau pretended to see in the Spanish question 
an Austrian intrigue and proposed that the decree under dis- 
cussion be amended by the addition of the clause, "no one 
shall exercise the regency but a man born in France." 2 Whether 
there was more in the question than appeared on the surface, 
or whether Mirabeau had conjured up an evil spirit in order to 
exorcise it, it is impossible to say. Later in the day, Mirabeau 
moved that the part of the decree that was uncontested, be 
voted at once, and that the rest be sent away for examination. 3 
This idea found no favor and the discussion went on. 

M. de Mortemar gave a new turn to the debate by affirm- 
ing that the renunciation of the Spanish branch was not con- 

'Arch. pari. VIII, 642. 
2 Arch, pari. VIII, 643. 
3Arcli. pari. VIII, 643. 



47 

tained in the treaty of Utrecht ; simply the declaration that the 
two crowns of France and Spain should not be united on the 
same head. Mirabeau called him to order, declaring the asser- 
tion profoundly false, an insult to public right and an injury to 
national dignity ; it countenanced the idea that, individuals 
may bequeath nations like vile herds." 1 M. de Sillery, how- 
ever, confuted M. de Mortemar, by the production of the re- 
nunciation of the king of Spain and the letters patent of 1713. 
Again Mirabeau pressed for a division of the motion, but was 
opposed by M. d'Espremenil, and when he desired to respond, 
was unsuccessful in obtaining the floor. 

The next day M. Target proposed to add to the decree the 
words : "Without intending to prejudge upon the effect of re- 
nunciations, upon which, if the case arises, a national conven- 
tion shall pronounce." Mirabeau spoke most emphatically 
against the amendment. 2 Everything would seem to induce 
the Assembly to abstain from the consideration of this question, 
but since it had been taken up, it was important that it be 
judged u and it is not upon diplomatic documents, renunciations 
and treaties that you have to pronounce, it is according to 
national interest. * * * I defy anyone to deny to me that 
everv nation has not the right to institute its government, 
choose its chiefs, and determine their succession." He was in- 
terrupted by many voices, but continued : "I declare that I am 
ready to treat the subject fundamentally, to show that if it is of 
interest to every nation that its chief conform to its morals, its 
habits, its local peculiarities, that he be without foreign posses- 
sions, foreign affections, that it is more true of the French than 
of any other people * * * the nation wishes only a French 
prince * * * Europe, and above all, Spain, has not said there 
are no more Pyrenees ; and in leaving the question now unde- 
cided, if there is a question, one will spread innumerable germs 
of internal discord. If there is no question, the composition 
of this article should be attended to outside of the iVssembly, 
for here it consumes too much time and would never attain a 

'Arch. pari. VIII, 643. 
2 Arch. pari. IX, 3. 



4 8 

certain degree of perfection, were the twelve hundred represen- 
tatives twelve hundred excellent writers. " But the debate 
went on and the next day the article was voted with Target's 
amendment and with it the articles on inviolability and indi- 
visibility. 

c. Ministerial Respo?isibility. 1 

Mirabeau seemed to have been the only man in the Assem- 
bly who thoroughly understood the English system of minister- 
ial responsibility and the relations that should exist between 
the ministers and the Assembly. As early as the 15th of July, 
he claimed for the Assembly the right of sending away the 
ministers and defended that view against Mounier, who assert- 
ed that the Assembly should have no influence, either upon the 
dismissal or upon the appointment of ministers. In his speech 
of the 1st of September, 2 Mirabeau had dwelt upon the neces- 
sity of always exercising the ministerial responsibility "with 
the most inflexible rigor, " and on the 5th of October, he had 
declared "that the person of the king is inviolable, but all other 
individuals of the state, whoever they may be are equally re- 
sponsible and subject before the law." 3 

On the 29th of September, he proposed that the ministers 
be taken from the Assembly and admitted to its sessions with 
deliberative voice ; the proposal was rejected. Upon the 6th of 
November, in a debate on the state of the finances, Mirabeau 
moved that "the ministers of his majesty be invited to come 
and take a deliberative voice in the Assembly until the consti- 
tution has fixed the rules which shall be followed in respect to 
them : n4 this was the third article of a series of three that he 
proposed. The first two were postponed and the third was de- 
bated upon this and the following day. 

On the 8th of November, the discussion took an unexpect- 
ed turn. It was believed, and with reason, that Mirabeau had 



x In chapter V, under the title of "Critique de la Constitution," Raynald 
treats the question of ministerial responsibility in an able manner. 

2 Arch. pari. VIII, 539. 

^Arch. pari. IX, 345. 

4 Arch. pari. IX, 711. 



49 

in view the prospect of a ministerial position for himself. 1 Here 
was the explanation of the opposition experienced by Mira- 
beau's motion, an opposition led by such men as Lanjuinais and 
Blin. The former, affirming that the cahiers forbade him to 
express his opinion before ministers, moved that, u The repre- 
sentatives of the nation may not, during the legislature of 
which they are members, nor during the three following years, 
obtain from the executive power, any place, pension, advance- 
ment, favor etc." 2 M. Blin pretended that a minister might 
by his presence paralyze all the ideas of liberty and it was also 
of importance to liberty that no minister have a consulting 
voice in the Assembly. He amended the motion of M. Lan- 
juinais by proposing that, "No member of the Assembly may, 
from this time on, pass into the ministry during the whole dur- 
ation of the session." 3 

Mirabeau, who had always recognized the extreme import- 
ance of a co-operation between the ministry and the Assembly, 
saw clearly that the acceptance of their motion would render 
such co-operation impossible and at a time when it was becom- 
ing every day more imperatively necessary. 4 He recognized 
also that it was a direct blow at himself and he parried it bold- 

I,l Oui nous osons le dire hautement, le comte de Mirabeau brule du desir 
de voir M. Necker precipite du poste brillant qu'il occupe & profiter de sa chute 
pour le rernplacer." Mirabeau devoile, n. 

"I/intention du comte de Mirabeau est, n'en doutons point, de parvenir au 
ministre. C'est a. ce but que tendent tous ses ecrits, tous ses discours & toutes 
ses actions." Ibid 10. 

2 Arch. pari. IX, 716. 

3Arch. pari. IX, 716. 

4 "Cepeudant quand je dis : J'avanceroi ; ce n'est pas que je ne sois decide a 
rester stationnaire commeje le suis aussi longtemps que l'assemblee sera corps 
administratif, au lieu d'achever sa besogne de corps constituant. C'est ainsi 
qu'elle se perd et qu'elle nous perd, et je ne vois aucun remede que dans la 
formation d'un ministere bon et de bonne foi, laquelle formation est impossible 
aussi longtemps que l'on ne levera l'insense decret qui interdit aux membres 
de l'assemblee toute place d'administration." To Mauvillon, August 4, 1790. 

"Mais l'assemblee acharnee a soutenir le decret absurde qui defend a tout 
membre de la legislature de prendre une place d'administration, interdit par 
cela seul au Roi tout bon choix et tout unite entre le bras et la volonte." Ibid, 
October 19, 1790. 



50 

ly. "The question that one has proposed to us is a problem to 
be solved. We have only to make the unknown disappear and 
the problem is solved. I cannot believe that the author of the 
motion wished seriously to have it decided that the elite of the 
nation did not contain a good minister ; that the confidence 
accorded by the nation to a citizen ought to be a title of ex- 
clusion from the confidence of the monarch ; that the king, 
who in moments of difficulty, has come to demand counsel of 
the representatives of the great family, may not take counsel 
of such of these representatives as he may choose ; that in de- 
claring that all citizens have an equal aptitude for all employ- 
ments, without any other distinction than that of virtue and of 
talents, it is necessary to except from this aptitude and this 
equality of rights, the twelve hundred deputies honored by the 
suffrages of a great people; that the National Assembly and the 
ministers ought to be so divided, so opposed to one another, that 
it is necessary to remove all means that may establish greater 
intimacy, more confidence, more unity in the plans and pro- 
ceedings.. 

"No, gentlemen, I cannot believe that such is the object of 
the motion, for it would never be in my power to believe a 
thing so absurd. * * I believe, gentlemen, that it may perhaps 
be useful to prevent some member of the Assembly from enter- 
ing the ministry. But as, in order to obtain this peculiar ad- 
vantage, it is not fitting to sacrifice a grand principle, I propose, 
as an amendment, the exclusion from the ministry of those 
members of the Assembly, that the author of the motion ap- 
pears to distrust, and I charge myself to make them known. 
There are in this Assembly, gentlemen, only two persons who 
may be the secret object of the motion. Who are these mem- 
bers? You have already divined it, gentlemen, it is either the 
author of the motion or myself.. Here is then, gentlemen, the 
amendment that I propose to you ; it is to limit the exclusion 
demanded to M. de Mirabeau, deputy of the commons of Aix." 1 
But the Assembly would neither show its hand nor renounce 



'Arch. pari. IX, 716. 






5i 

the satisfaction of excluding Mirabeau from the ministry ; 
Lanjuinais' motion was postponed and Blin's adopted. 1 
d. Sanction and Promulgation of Laws. 
Closely allied to the question of the veto, was that of the 
royal sanction for the acts of the legislative body. It was 
brought to the notice of the Assembly on the 22nd of September, 
by the following article : u No act of legislation can be consid- 
ered as law, if it has not been made by the deputies of the 
nation and sanctioned by the king. n This gave Mirabeau an 
opportunity to administer to the Assembly a well deserved re- 
buke in pointed language : U I demand what one understands by 
an act of legislation that is not a law. These two expressions 
are perfectly synonymous. I know of no other response to this 
observation than u to vote" and this seems to me unanswerable. 
But if one wishes to be understood, one will say: c Are we in 
accord upon the thing we wish to define by the proposed article?' 
If it is the law, it is necessary to say simply, 'the law is the act 
of the legislative power sanctioned by the king.' If it is, as I 
believe, the nature and limits of the executive power that you 
wish to determine, it is necessary to change the composition 
from one end to the other under penalty of submitting ourselves 
to evident nonsense ; or indeed, the article would read : 'An act 
of the legislative body shall be nothing else than an act of the 
legislative body. ' I observe in ending, that it would not be a 
bad idea for the National Assembly of France to talk French 
and to write in French the laws that it proposes." 2 It was just 
such language as this that the Assembly needed ; but it was 
not to its taste. The article as finally adopted read : u No act 
of the legislative body can be considered as law, if it has not 
been made by the Assembly of the representatives of the nation, 
legally and freely elected, and sanctioned by the king." 

^lorris wrote in his diary Nov. 7 : "The event of Mirabeau's propositions, 
levelled at the ministry, has been a resolution that no member of the present 
States-General shall be admitted to a share in the administration." I, 219. It 
is quite possible that Morris used the word "levelled" here without intending 
to give to it the significance of "an hostile attack ;" otherwise the whole pur- 
pose of Mirabeau's motion must have escaped him. 

2 Arch. pari. IX, 101. 



52 

In the debate upon the formula to be used in promulgating 
the law, Mirabeau met with more success. This question was 
discussed on the 8th of October. Robespierre had held up to 
ridicule the expressions : "By our certain knowledge," u by our 
full power and royal authority," "for such is our pleasure ; " 
Pethion went farther and wished to proscribe the words, "By 
the Grace of God." u There is a very simple way," said Mira- 
beau, "to evade certain absurdities that have just been an- 
nounced, and that is, that the law go forth from the Assembly 
fully edited. It is clear, then, that by a very simple formula, the 
law will conform very scrupulously to the decree. At present, 
I do not see that it is of any interest to nations to renounce 
ancient formulas, when they bear upon religious sentiments and 
can have no bad consequences. Without doubt these here, 
"certain knowledge," u full power," "such is our pleasure," 
have not been respected, and do not pretend to be to-day. They 
offend good sense ; a "certain knowledge," which, without 
ceasing, varies, tests and contradicts itself; a "full power," that 
vascillates, retrogrades and can do nothing, pertain only to the 
chancellerie of despotism ; but these words "By the Grace of 
God," are a homage to religion, and this homage is due 
from all people of the world ; it is a religious form without any 
danger, and valuable to preserve as rallying point among men. 
What may we conclude from it, in the violences of the despot- 
ism the most imprudent, in the subtilties of the despotism the 
the most refined? If kings are kings, by the grace of God, 
nations are sovereign, by the grace of God. One may easily 
conciliate everything ; in the first place, every preamble ought 
to be banished from the law. When one alone ordains, in his 
name, and according to his will, it is very natural that he seek 
to rally opinions; but the representatives of the nation, talk in the 
name of the nation and express the general will ; it is sufficient 
that they expose in order to be obeyed. Here is the formula 
that I propose : "Louis, by the grace of God and by the consti- 
tutional law of the State/king of the French, conformably to 
the deliberation and to the wish of the National Assembly, we 
ordain that which follows." 1 This formula was adopted. 

J Arch. pari. IX, 384. 



53 

A rapid retrospective glance over the topics treated in this 
chapter under "Royal Power," reveals all too clearly the fact, 
that although Mirabeau was untiring in his advocacy of mon- 
archial principles, his propositions were almost without excep- 
tion rejected by the Assembly. Distrusted by the king and 
queen, looked on with a jealous eye by Necker, unable to count 
upon the support of the moderate men in the Assembly, forced 
to play the part of a tribune to retain his popularity, 1 he could 
form no party, he was forced to fight the battle alone. 2 Com- 
pelled to follow when he should have led, he was condemned 
to a policy of opposition, 3 without the means at his disposal to 
make this opposition effective. % The royal veto and the co-op- 
eration between ministry and Assembly were two of the founda- 
tion stones of his constitutional edifice, and yet in spite of all 
his efforts they were sacrificed to the all devouring spirit of 
Jacobinism and political ignorance. 

II. LEGISLATIVE POWER. 

Mirabeau' s constitutional labors fall naturally into two 
classes : i*His efforts to preserve whatever was serviceable in the 
old system, modifying it to adapt it to the demands of modern 
society, 2.%His advocacy of new forms, where the old system was 
lacking. What he accomplished under the first head, has al- 
ready been indicated ; it is the purpose of this chapter to treat 
the second class of subjects. That he met with more success 
in proposing new forms of government and vital changes was 

X 'A travers toutes ses declamations et le niepris qu'il repandait sur les min- 
istres, il se montrait monarchique et repetait que ce n'etait pas sa faute si on le 
repoussait, et si on le forcait, pour sa surete personnelle, a se faire le chef du 
parti populaire." De la Marck. I, 92. 

Mirabeau said one day to De la Marck : "Mais quelle position m' est done 
possible de prendre? Le gouvernement me repousse, et je nepuis que me placer 
dans le parti de V opposition, qui est revolutionnaire ou risquer de perdre ma 
popularite qui est ma force." De la Marck I, 99. 

2 Reynald, 346. 

3"Read a motion of the Comte de Mirabeau in which he shows very truly 
the dreadful situation of credit in this country, but he is not so successful in 
applying a remedy as in disclosing the disease. This man will always be 
powerful in opposition, but never great in administration." Morris I, 220. 



54 

to be expected, for here he found himself supported by public 
opinion, and a public opinion that grew each day more radical. 
In .the questions of the permanence of the Assembly, the num- 
ber of chambers, imposts, and judgment of elections, he could 
speak as the tribune of the people, knowing that he had popu- 
lar sympathy with him ; but in the question of the right of war 
and peace, this popular support was lacking. Here the execu- 
tive and legislative powers clashed ; he was treading upon 
dangerous ground, for as has been seen, in all previous conflicts, 
the executive power had been obliged to succumb. 

a. Permanence of Assembly and Number of Chambers. 

Mirabeau favored the permanence of the Assembly and one 
Chamber. On the ist of September, at the close of his speech 
on the veto, he said : u You see, gentlemen, I have constantly 
taken for granted the permanence of the national Assembly, 
and from that even I have drawn all my arguments in favor of 
the royal sanction which seems to me the unassailable rampart 
of political liberty, provided that the king may not employ his 
veto without dissolving, and may not dissolve without convok- 
ing another Assembly, because the constitution should never 
permit the social body to be without representation. n He then 
made a strong plea in favor of annual Assemblies. He dwelt 
upon the vast amount of legislative work to be done and point- 
ed to the English, u who have done everything, it is said, and 
nevertheless they assemble every year and find something- to do ; 
and the French, who have everything to do, ought not to as- 
semble every year ! * * * *We shall have, then, a perman- 
ent Assembly, and this sublime institution would in itself be a 
sufficient counterpoise to the royal veto." 1 This speech con- 
tained nothing on the number of chambers and he would, doubt- 
less, have handled that subject fully had he spoken a second 



x Mirabeau's speech on the permanence of the Assembly was borrowed : 
' 'Mais il a paru sur le beau sujet de la sanction royale, un ecrit de M. le Marquis 
de Cazaux, intitule : "Simplicite del'idee d'une constitution," qui est une mine 
inepuisable d'idees saines et profondes dont j'ai beaucoup profit e ; par example 
toute la partie de mon discours, relative a la permanence des Assemblies nation- 
ales, en est extraite." Mejan II, 89. Stern II, 65. 



55 

time, but, as has been already mentioned, circumstances pre- 
vented him from doing so. When, on the 9th of September, 
Mirabeau presented a list of subjects to be voted upon, he ac- 
companied it by an analysis of the questions under considera- 
tion. u If one demands of me : c Do you want permanence?' 
I cannot answer, if I do not know what one understands by an- 
nuality. 'Do you wish two chambers?' I respond, that I wish 
two chambers, if they are only two sections of a single one, and 
that I wish only one, if the one is to have a veto on the other." 1 
According to Mirabeau, the questions first to be considered, 
were : t " Shall the National Assembly be permanent ; that is to 
say, shall it assemble every year;" "Shall the Assemblies re- 
new themselves every two years ?" According to the order of 
deliberation adopted by the Assembly, the first two questions 
read: 1. "Shall the Assembly be permanent or periodic?" 
2. "Shall there be one or two chambers?" 

After many new motions and extreme disorder, the perman- 
ence of the Assembly was voted. As soon as the second ques- 
tion was stated, Mirabeau exclaimed : "It seems to me that it is 
not in order to deliberate upon this question, because the As- 
sembly in decreeing its permanence, has decreed its unity. " 2 
This utterance raised a storm of indignation. What induced 
Mirabeau to make such a move, it is difficult to say ; perhaps 
he hoped to surprise the Assembly into voting its unity. He 
explained his action shortly after by declaring, "I had wished 
to say, in a laconic manner to the Assembly — that less than ever 
loves long speeches — that its unity existed essentially in its* 
permanence." 3 

The following day, the 10th of September, there were long 
debates upon Mirabeau' s motion and on the same day f 
the two chamber system was rejected by a very large majority. 
The strain of the long debate had exhausted the Assembly and 
its action in adopting the one chamber system had disorganized 
the committee on the constitution, that had been strongly op- 

J Arch. pari. VIII, 603. 
2 Arch. pari. VIII, 604. 
3Arch. pari. VIII, 604. 



56 

posed to it. The committee was not reorganized before the 15th 
of September, and up to that time, the Assembly worked with- 
out any definite plan, trusting largely to accident to supply it 
with subjects for discussion. On the 12th of September, it de- 
creed that the duration of an Assembly should be two years, 
and on the 14th of September, that the whole legislative body 
should be renewed at each election. 

b. Imposts. 
On the 7th of October, the Assembly discussed the ques- 
tion of imposts. The article read : "Every contribution shall 
be supported by all citizens and all property without distinc- 
tion ; n it met with energetic opposition from Mirabeau. "Pub- 
lic contributions" he said, "cannot be supported equally by all 
citizens ; for all citizens have not the same means, the same 
faculties, nor in consequence, the same obligation to contribute 
equally to the maintenance of the public cause. All that one 
may demand of them is that they contribute according as they 
are able. Further, there is a class of citizens, that deprived of 
the gift of fortune, having hardly the necessaries of life, ought, 
for that reason, to be entirely exempt." 1 This article was also 
contrary to the declaration of rights, for there it is declared 
"that the apportionment should be rigorously proportional, 
among all citizens, according to their abilities". There the 
proportion of fortunes was established as the basis of appor- 
tionment "in place of this equality which undeniably would 
be the most iniquitous and cruel inequality." In affirming 
that contributions ought to be borne equally by all goods, 
the Assembly attacked a principle already recognized by 
itself, namely, that the public debt ought not to be taxed.* 
4 Those who have advanced money to the state in its time of 
need, have alone run all the charges of public defense and 
"may be considered as having paid in advance the same imposts 
that one would have them support to-day for a second time." 
After some further discussion, the article was adopted in the 
following form : "All contributions and public charges, of 
whatever nature they may be, are supportable proportionally 

'Arch, pari. IX, 380. 



57 

by all citizens and proprietors, in proportion to their goods and 
abilities." 

This article was followed by another upon the duration of 
the taxes imposed : "No impost shall be granted but for the 
time that shall elapse up to the last day of the following ses- 
sion ; every contribution shall cease by right at this period, if it 
is not renewed." ^It was proposed to divide the imposts into 
two classes : permanent, for the payment of the public debt, 
and variable, for the payment of running expenses. The per- 
sonal expenses of the king were to be reckoned among the first. 
Mirabeau spoke in support of these views. He referred to the 
successful test that they had stood in England, where "all the 
imposts necessary for the payment of the 'interest of the public 
debt are voted up to the extinction of the debt. One renews 
there from year to year, only those that serve for public expens- 
es, such as the army and the navy. * * * The civil list is 
voted. by parliament at the beginning of each reign ; it is as- 
sured upon a fixed revenue, of which parliament may indeed 
change the apportionment, but which may not be diminished 
during the life of the king without his consent." After revert- 
ing to the danger of making the subsistence of the king de- 
pendent upon a yearly vote of the. Assembly, Mirabeau ex- 
claimed, u If the funds of the civil list are not fixed, the occu- 
pation 1 of a king is too dangerous." He proposed in place of 
the article under discussion, the following : u No impost shall 
be granted for more than a year, with the exception of those 
especially devoted to the civil list of the king and to the suc- 
cessive payment of interest and capital of the national debt. 
Every impost shall cease by right, at the expiration of the time 
for which it shall have been accorded, and every public official 
who shall demand it beyond this period, shall be guilty of 
high treason" 2 But many members favored the first form and 
a compromise was made, the article as finally adopted consist- 
ing of the one first proposed and the modifying sentence : "But 
each legislature may vote in the manner that appears to it the 



1<( le metier." 
2 Arch. pari. IX, 380. 



58 

most fitting, sums destined, be it for the acquitting of the 
public debt, be it for the payment of the civil list." 
c. Judgment of Elections. 

This little episode — for it was one of those unexpected de- 
bates that were constantly occurring in the Assembly — took 
place on the ioth of February, 1790. It was announced by 
M. Desmeuniers that the nomination of the mayor of Saint- 
Jean <T Angley had been contested by a large number of citizens 
of that city. He proposed that the matter be referred to the 
executive power, and that the Assembly pray the king, after a 
verification of the facts, to give orders for a new election. Many 
speakers were heard, pro and con, and there were cries of 
"aux voix !" u aux voix !" In the midst of these cries, Mira- 
beau began to speak, affirming that he was not going to be 
stirred up by unconstitutional cries of "to vote," "to vote, " 
tc send to the executive power." 

"Gentlemen, the power of judging of elections can never 
pertain to the executive power, otherwise, it would judge of 
the elements of the legislative power. In the future, the elec- 
tions can only be judged by the administrative Assemblies ; but 
to-day, as we have not distributed all the powers, whatever may 
be the part that you may take, it is certain that the power to 
judge elections pertains to you and only to you. I do not see 
by what kind of pretext one can give color to a reference of the 
judgment of an election to the executive power." 1 M. Emmeri, 
accepting these principles, proposed that the municipality the 
nearest to Saint Jean-d'Angely, be instructed to make a record 
of the facts and send it to the Assembly, that the latter 
may be in a position to judge the case. But Mirabeau demand- 
ed adjournment, u that the committee on the constitution may 
prepare a law upon the important part of the judgment of elec- 
tions." The Assembly, however, did not adjourn, but adopted 
the measure proposed by M. Emmeri, promising in its decree 
that it would "fix at once the constitutional rules for the judg- 
ment of elections." 

x Arch. pari. XI, 541. 



59 

d. Right of Declaring War and Making Peace. 

The most exciting debate that occurred during Mirabeau's 
connection with the Assembly was that upon the right of de- 
claring war and making peace. Never was his superiority as 
an orator and debater more brilliantly displayed, and never did 
he win a more pronounced triumph over his opponents. 1 It was 
the most critical period in his political career, for he must res- 
cue the last remnant of executive power and at the same time 
preserve his popularity. A break with the radical party was 
unavoidable 2 and although a victory under these circumstances 
added immeasureably to his reputation, it was also attended 
with great danger. 3 

Like so many of the subjects already considered, this im- 
portant question also was brought to the notice of the Assem- 
bly in a most unexpected manner. 4 England and Spain had 
come into conflict on the coast of California ; a Spanish squad- 
ron had seized a number of English vessels and England had 
equipped a large fleet for the purpose of retaliating. These 
preparations were not unknown in Paris, but it was not believ- 
ed that a serious collision was to be feared ; a letter of Mont- 
morin to the Assembly, the 14th of May, revealed the gravity 
of the affair. France had equipped fourteen ships of the line, 
and although affirming that all efforts would be made to adjust 



lU L'autorite du roi ue pouvoit etre retablie que par la force armee ; il 
fallait done mettre cette force a sa disposition. L'opinion de Mirabeau sur le 
droit de paix et de guerre, qui est sans doute, de tous ses travaux legislatifs, 
celui qui lui a fait le plus d'honneur, n'avait pas d'autre but." De la Marck 

1, 171. 

1 'La superiority de Mirabeau, dans ce discours, reveille un souvenir de 
Demostbene accablant Eschine. Droz. Ill, 217. 

2 "Aussi les Lametb, Duport, Barnave et tous les republicans la combattir- 
ent. Leurs intrigues et leur rage provoquerent dans la multitude des propos 
qui menacaient la vie de Mirabeau." De la Marck I, 171. 

3 "La section du parti populaire,*qui ne veut que le trouble, mattee par moi 
dans maintes occasions, domptee dans celle du droit de la paix et de la guerre, 
desespere de me voir abandonner les principes monarchiques, et en conse- 
quence a jure ma perte." To Mauvillon, 4 aout. 1790. 

♦Stern II, 151. 



6o 

the differences amicably, the minister asked for a vote of sup- 
plies. 

The Assembly at once decided that upon the following day 
all other business should be suspended and the king's message be 
taken into consideration. That night, the subject was discussed 
in the Jacobin club, and it was there affirmed that "the right of 
peace and war and that of foreign alliances pertains to the 
nation. " 

The discussion upon the 15th of May, turned at first upon 
the advisability of taking steps that might involve France in an 
expensive war. This part of the debate culminated in the 
utterance of the Abbe Maury, "I see in all this only a question 
of money." 1 But xAlexander de Lameth saw much more in it 
and the discussion assumed a critical character when he declar- 
ed : "No one certainly will find fault with the measures taken 
by the king. We may now deliberate since the orders are 
given ; but this incidental question raises one of principle. It 
is necessary to know if the Assembly is competent, and if the 
sovereign nation ought to delegate to the king, the right of 
making peace or war. There is the question." 2 

The radicals, supported by popular sentiment, had thrown 
down the gauntlet. Many orators spoke for and against this 
view of the question ; finally Mirabeau ascended the tribune. 
He declared this manner of eluding the question raised by the 
letter of the minister, "unreasonable, inconsistent, imprudent, 
and without object. I say that it is unreasonable and incon- 
sistent, since the message of the king has no connection with a 
declaration of war ; because the message of the king may ex- 
ist when we may have decided that the right to make war and 
peace pertains to the nation. The right of arming, of placing 
itself suddenly in readiness, will always be the right of the 
supreme executive of the national will." 3 Here was Mirabeau's 
program and it was thus that he answered Lameth's challenge. 
"You cannot then," he continued, "avoid an examination of 
the king's message. The question resolves itself into knowing, 

x Arch pari. XV, 516. 
2 Arch. pari. XV, 516. 
'Arch. pari. XV, 517. 



6i 

not if the king; had the right to arm — which is not doubtful — 

but if the funds demanded are necessary, a thing not a bit more 
doubtful." 1 He concluded with the demand that the Assembly 
occupy itself with the message. When this proposal failed to 
find support, he moved that the Assembly approve the measures 
of the king and ordain bv the same decree that on the morrow, 
it would begin the discussion of the constitutional question. 
This motion was finally adopted. 

The debate began accordingly upon the next day, and 
lasted until the 22nd of May. The question under discussion 
read : "Ought the nation to delegate to the king the exercise 
of the right of peace and w r ar?" Mirabeau delivered his first 
speech on the 20th. The question up to that time had been, 
"Does this right of making war and peace pertain to the king 
or to the nation, as represented by the legislative body?" In 
this form, Mirabeau declared the question insoluble and he pro- 
posed to resolve it into the following terms : "Is it not neces- 
sary to attribute the right of making war and peace concur- 
rently to the two powers that our constitution has consecrated ? n 
The substance of his project was as follows : 2 

The French nation should renounce all offensive wars ; 
defensive wars must always begin with an attack from the side 
of the enemy. Meanwhile, the king must have the power to 
arm and resist these hostilities. Only when a state of war ex- 
ists or is impending, is it necessary to consider the questions, 
"What are the duties of the executive power, what the rights 
of the legislative power ? n 

"The executive power ought to give notice without delay 
of the state of war either existing or impending, make known 

'Arch. pari. XV, 518. 

^here exist two copies of this speech of May 20th 1790 : the original is 
found in Xos. 141, and 142 of "Le Moniteur Universel," May 21st and 22nd, 
1790 ; the other — or falsified copy — is found in the pamphlet printed by Mira- 
beau's order See Bibliography) and in Mejan's edition of Mirabeau's works, 
vol. Ill, 297-346. The Archives, XVI, 618, reprint the speech from Barthe's 
edition of Mirabeau's works (1820) ; it is the falsified copy and the only com- 
ment made is, "Cette version differe sur quelques points, de celle du Moniteur." 
The abstract given is based upon the speech printed in the Moniteur. 



62 

the causes of it, demand the necessary funds, require the union 
of the legislative Assembly, if it is not in session." 

"The legislative body has, in its turn, four measures to 
take. The first is to examine, if, hostilities having commenced, 
the culpable aggression has not come from some agent of the 
executive power. In such case, the author of the aggression 
ought to be punished as guilty of high treason." 

"The second measure is to disapprove the war if it is use- 
less or unjust, require the king to make peace and force him to 
it by refusing funds." 

"The third measure consists of a series of means ; the first 
of these, is not to take a vacation as long as the war lasts ; the 
second, to prolong the session in case a war is imminent ; the 
third, to unite to such an extent as may be found necessary, 
the national guard of the kingdom, in case that the king makes 
war in person ; the fourth, to require the executive power to 
make peace, whenever the legislative body may think proper." 

But as the preparations for war should be entrusted to the 
executive power, so also the negociations for peace ; but treaties 
should be valid only when ratified by the legislative body. At 
the close of his speech, Mirabeau read ten articles embodying 
his views. 

The following day, Barnave combatted Mirabeau's project. 
He declared that it was impossible that the power of declaring 
war be exercised by the king and by the representatives of the 
people. "The radical vice of M. de Mirabeau's project is that 
in reality it gives the king exclusively the right of making 
war. * * It is universally recognized that the king ought to 
provide for the defense of the frontiers and for the preservation 
of national property. It is recognized that without the wish 
of the king, differences may arise between individuals of this 
nation and individuals of foreign nations. M. de Mirabeau ap- 
peared to think that that began the war ; that in consequence, 
the commencement of the war being spontaneous, the right of 
declaring war could not pertain to the legislative body. * * 
Whatever resolution you may take, be it that you delegate this 
power to the legislative body, be it that you delegate it to the 






63 

executive power, the decree of M. de Mirabeau would always 
be imperfect, for it is indispensable to know the moment when 
the nation is at war ; x it is indispensable to know to whom it 
pertains, to declare it in its name, and in the two cases, he 
leaves us in uncertainty. " 2 

Barnave's speech made a deep impression upon the Assem- 
bly ; many considered it unanswerable. As he closed, many 
voices demanded the question, but Mirabeau succeeded in ob- 
taining a postponement of the decision, thus giving him an op- 
portunity to speak the next day. The public excitement was 
extreme 3 and when Mirabeau ascended the tribune, he was con- 
scious of the tremendous importance of the speech he was about 
to make. 4 

After a magnificent exordium, suggested by the striking 
contrast between his situation at that time, when u the grand 
treason of Count Mirabeau" was being cried in the streets, and 

^his was the critical point; not that, as Stern says (IT, 157), "Er sagte 
nirgendswo mit klaren Worten, ivem es zustehen sollte, das entscheidende 
Wort der Kriegserklarung zu spechen." He says distinctly in Article VI of 
his project ; "La formule de declaration de guerre et de traites de paix sera de 
la part du roi des Francais et au 110m de la nation." War, then, is to be pro- 
claimed by the king ; but when? Before or after the notice has been given to 
the Assembly? Neither the speech nor the project contains any definite answer 
to this question. Many covert expressions, however, give color to the belief 
that the declaration was to be made by the king before presenting the matter 
to the Assembly. 

2 Arch. pari. XV, 641. 

3"Le lendemain, 1'efFervesence continua de se mauifester : Mirabeau etait 
designe aux fureurs populaires ; les colporteurs faisaient retentir le titre d'un 
pamphlet intitule; Grande trahison de Mirabeau decouverte ; et des gens apostes, 
en lisaient des passages au milieu de groupes nombreux. Vingtmille personnes 
se pressaient autour de l'assemblee couvroient les rues, les places, les jardins 
environnaus ; et l'agitatiou de la foule etait efrroyante." Droz. Ill, 210-211. 

4 "Lors qu'il arriva a. l'assemblee nationale, un ami qui venait de traverser 
la foule le prit a. part, lui exprima de vives inquietudes, mais sentit renaitre son 
courage a. ces mots prononces d'un ton noble et ferme ; 'On m'emportera d'ici 
triomphant ou en lambeaux.' " Droz. Ill, 211. In regard to the truth of this 
much quoted expression, Lucas-Montigny says : "Nous ne croyous pas a. ces 
paroles de la part d'un homme qui. le jour de la replique, attendit froidement a. 
la tribune, pendant trois quarts d'heure, et les bras croises, que les rugissemens 
des deux oppositions, aristocratique et republicaine, lui permissent de prendre 
la parole." VIII, 260. 



6 4 

that of a few days before, when the people wished to bear him 
in triumph from the Assembly, he went on r 1 I re-enter the 
lists armed alone with my principles and with the firmness of 
my conscience. I am about to fix in my turn the true point of 
the difficulty with all the clearness of which I am capable, and 
I pray all of my opponents that do not understand me, to stop 
me in order that I may express myself more clearly, for I have 
decided to dispose of these reproaches, so oft repeated, of 
evasion, of subtilty and of ambiguity ; and if it depends upon 
me, this day will lay bare the secret of our respective loyalties. ' ' 

Barnave had declared that the determination to make war — 
which is nothing else than the act of the general will — ought 
to devolve upon the representatives of the people. Mirabeau 
responded: u The organ of this will is at the same time the 
king and the Assembly. * * In your discourse, you attribute 
the annunciation of the general will — to whom? to the lep-isla- 
tive power ; in your decree, to whom do you attribute it? to the 
legislative body. ' Upon that, I call you to order ; you have re- 
nounced the constitution. If you understand that the legisla- 
tive body is the legislative power, by that alone, you wall over- 
throw all the laws we have made. Would you accord to the 
king the initiative, or if you refused it, would you refuse like- 
wise the veto? 2 Do you understand that if the king decides for 
w 7 ar, the legislative body may deliberate upon peace? I do not 
find any inconvenience in that. Do you understand, on the 
contrary, that if the king alone wishes peace, the legislative 
body may declare war and oblige him to sustain it in spite of 
himself? I cannot adopt your system, for it gives birth to in- 
conveniences that it is impossible to remedy. 

U I said in my discourse that hostilities often anticipate all 
deliberation : I said that these hostilities may be such that a 
state of war has begun ; what have you responded ? That there 



x Arch. pari. XV, 655. 

2 In his speech of the 20th, Mirabeau had said : "Le veto suspensif que 
vous avez accorde au Roi pourro.it pas s'appliquer a de telles deliberations, les 
discussions dont je parle, n'en seront que plus redoutables. " Here is a decided 
change of base ! 



65 

is war only by a declaration of war. But do we dispute over 
things or words?" 

Mirabeau concluded : "I wish the concourse of the execu- 
tive power in the expression of the general will in the making 
of peace and war, as the constitution has attributed it to the 
same in all parts of our social system already fixed. 1 My ad- 
versaries do not wish it. There is the line that separates us. 2 
If I deceive myself, let my opponent stop me. Let him substi- 
tute in his decree, for the words the legislative body, these, the 
legislative power, that is to say an act emenating from the repre- 
sentatives of the people and sanctioned by the king, and we 
are perfectly in accord. " 3 

As soon as Mirabeau had finished, Charles Lameth demand- 
ed that Barnave be allowed to respond to him and was support- 
ed in his demand by Mirabeau himself and by Lafayette. But 
the Assembly adhered to its decision of the previous day, and 
declared the discussion closed. Twenty-two projects had been 
presented and an exciting contest arose over the question of 
priority ; Cfiapellier demanded it for Mirabeau' s project, Alex- 
ander Lameth, for Barnave's. In opposing the priority of 
Mirabeau's project, Charles Lameth declared that he would like 
better to adopt that of the Abbe Maury or of Cazales. * * ct It 
appears to me more dangerous for public liberty. It gives to 
the king the initiative of fact and allows the legislative power 
to play only a secondary role, while according to it the veto." 4 



x That applied to his position of the 22nd, but not to that of the 20th. His 
speech of the 20th, if it says anything, says that the king shall declare war 
without concourse of the Assembly. 

2 Here again he was right, from his point of view ; his opponents did not 
wish to give the initiative and the veto to the king and Mirabeau did. On the 
20th, however, Mirabeau wished to attribute to the king the right of declaring 
war ; Barnave attributed this right to the Assembly. But Mirabeau would con- 
fess no change of front ; he pretended that his views of the 22nd were the same 
as those of the 20th. 

3 These were sharp tactics, for Mirabeau knew that Barnave would never 
concede the veto to the king in this matter and thus by remaining silent, would 
leave the impression that the position of the 22nd was the same as that of the 
20th. 

*Arch. pari. XV, 659. 



66 

Also Barnave, in declaring himself against the priority of Mir- 
abeau's project, found opportunity to criticise it at length. But 
it was all to no purpose : the Assembly voted to consider Mira- 
beau's project. 

After the reading of the first article, Alexander Lameth 
moved to amend by substituting the following sentence : "War 
can be declared only by a decree of the legislative body, ren- 
dered on a formal proposition of the king. " A confused dis- 
cussion followed and finally the article was reduced to the fol- 
lowing form : "The right of peace and war pertains to the na- 
tion. War can be decided only' by a decree of the National 
Assembly, which shall be rendered upon a formal and necessary 
proposition of the king, and which shall be consented to by 
him. " Mirabeau, who had quietly allowed things to take their 
course, here remarked : "One will have little difficulty in be- 
lieving that I adhere with all my heart to this amendment for 
which I have combatted for five days. 1 If I had known before 
that it was only a contest of self love, the discussion would not 
have been so long. I demand that the word 'sanctioned,' the 
word of the constitution, be put in the place of 'consented'." 2 
This was done and, with some minor changes, the decree was 
then adopted. 



CONCLUSION. 

From the material supplied in the preceding pages, it is 
possible to draw fairly exact conclusions as to Mirabeau's pol- 
itical views and as to the form of government he was desirous 
of erecting in the place of the old, absolute monarchy. 

As the foundation stone of the new edifice, he demanded 
the recognition of the sovereignty of the nation and affirmed 
the right of this nation to "institute its government, choose its 
chiefs and determine their succession." But in this sovereign 
nation, he took account of the existence of privileged classes, 



x The person that compares the speech of the 20th with that of the 22nd, 
will have much ' 'difficulty in believing it" ! In fact, he will not believe it at all. 
2 Arch. pari. XVI, 661. 



6 7 

and even while championing the claims of the insufficiently 
represented people, while insisting upon the necessity of delib- 
eration in common, and voting by head, all thoughts of usurp- 
ing the title, c 'National Assembly," were heaven-wide from 
his mind. At this first step toward violent destruction of the 
existing, he parted company with the revolutionary spirits. 

He wished a constitutional monarchy in which the nation 
delegated its power to a king and to a legislative Assembly. 
This king should be "king by the grace of God," but over a 
nation that at the same time was "sovereign bv the grace of 
God." The royal title should be hereditary, but the bearer 
must be a Frenchman, and, if need be, the Assembly should 
determine the royal succession. The king, in person inviolable, 
should be approachable through a responsible ministry, chosen 
from the Assembly, representing the predominant party in that 
body, and dismissable when its policy was rejected by the ma- 
jority of the delegates. He should possess the right of veto 
and thus exert an indirect influence on legislation. In his 
hands, should rest the right to declare war and to' make war, 
subjected only to certain checks from the legislative body. 
Further, as the king by his veto could prevent an act of the 
Assembly from becoming a law, so as a natural converse, every 
act of that body to become a law required the concurrence of 
the king and he alone was entrusted with the proclamation of 
it. At the beginning of each reign, a regular revenue should 
be set aside for the household expenses of the king and this 
sum should not be decreased during his life. In a word, while 
rendering the executive power responsible, c 'from the first min- 
ister to the last store," Mirabeau did not render it impotent. 

The will of the nation found representation in the legisla- 
tive Assembly and here the will of the majority should rule. 
This body, representing proportionately the different classes of 
the nation, should consist of one chamber, vote by head, meet 
every year, and never be dissolved by the king unless a new 
Assembly were at once to succeed it. As has been said, the 
nation should have the right to institute its own government, 
and when the representatives of the nation, as a constituent As- 



68 

sembly, framed a constitution, at such a time, the veto of the 
king must be suspended. » But the government once organized, 
the legislative power should consist of the legislative body and 
the king. The latter by the use of his veto, could appeal from 
the expressed will of the National Assembly to the presumed 
will of the nation. Against this veto, Mirabeau armed the 
Assembly with powerful weapons, the control of imposts and 
the control of the army ; the employment of these arms would 
force the king to dissolve the Assembly and to appeal to the 
nation through a new election. Should this result unfavorably 
to himself, then he must yield. The same weapons that served 
the legislative body against the veto, must do service in the 
questions of peace and war ; the king could declare war, he 
could begin it, but by the prosecution of ministers, by the re-^ 
fusal of funds and by the union of the national guards, the 
Assembly could force him to make peace. The imposts borne 
by all citizens in proportion to their property and abilities, 
could be voted by the Assembly alone, and but for a given peri- 
od. *Thus, through the control of the national income, the 
Assembly would act as a check upon the executive power. 
Finally, that the executive power might not exert an undu'e in- 
fluence upon the legislative body, the judgment of elections 
should be entrusted to the latter. 

To the existence of such a government, equality before the 
law, freedom of worship, and freedom of speech were indispens- 
able principles, and Mirabeau did not forget to lay due weight 
upon them. 

Here was his system and it can be affirmed with little fear 
of contradiction, that had it been adopted, it would have re- 
formed France and prevented the revolution. Although he 
was unable to construct a government on these foundations, his 
work is none the less interesting and whoever makes a careful 
study of the man and his work will find himself repeating the 
words of Carlyle : U A questionable, most blamable man ; yet 
to us, the far notables t of all." 



VITA. 



Fred Morrrow Fling, the son of Charles H. and Cynthia 
E. Fling, was born on the 4th of November, i860, at Portland 
Me., U. S. A. In the fall of 1879, having passed through the 
schools of his native city, he became a student in the academ- 
ical department of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me. He com- 
pleted the four years' course in this institution, graduating in 
the summer of 1883. After graduating, and in the same year, 
he was appointed teacher of history and mathematics at Bidde- 
ford, Me. There he remained five years, devoting himself es- 
pecially to the study of history. In the summer of 1888, he 
resigned his position for the purpose of pursuing his chosen 
work at a German University, and in July arrived in Leipzig : 
here he has remained up to the present time. During his con- 
nection with the University, he has listened to lectures by Pro- 
fessors Roscher, Maurenbrecher, Brentano, Arndt, Wuelker, 
Hasse, Pueckert and Wenck, and has been a member of Profes- 
sor Maurenbrecher' s Historical Seminar. To Professor Maur- 
enbrecher, for his uniform kindness and sympathetic interest, 
he would express his heartiest thanks. 



Leipzig, May 10, 1890. 






MIRABEAU 

AND 

THE FRENCH CONSTITUTION. 



FRED MORROW FLING. 



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